


Harry Potter and the Return of Grindelwald

by White_Noise



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Thorne & Rowling
Genre: Angst, But he will work on it, Dark, Different Wizard Cultures, Draco Malfoy is a great dad, Family Drama, Future Fic, Gen, Harry Potter is not a great dad, Harry has anger issues, Hours on Pottermore for this, I am serious, I created a lot of MACUSA OCs for this, Lucius Malfoy is a monster, M/M, MACUSA, Mentions Voldemorts reality, Mentions attacks on children, Mentions reincarnation, Ministry of Magic, More dark rumours against Scorpius, More tags to be added, Muggle world, Post CC, Post Curse Child, Scorbus, The MOM does not rule the Wizard World, but he is getting better, these two are cute, this will get really dark
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-26
Updated: 2019-05-25
Packaged: 2019-11-05 22:44:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 39,317
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17927783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/White_Noise/pseuds/White_Noise
Summary: Just because the Son of Voldemort rumours have ended, doesn't mean Scorpius Malfoy isn't still a target. And it doesn't mean Albus Potter will ever abandon him. Now safely hiding away in the Muggle World, Scorpius and Albus are ready to begin their lives together after Hogwarts.But a Dark Wizard is on the loose and looking to turn this new rumour into reality. Can the boys survive this new threat? Can Scorpius battle the memories of the Dark World? Is he really the next Dark Lord?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to my first foray into the HP Fanfiction universe. I was lucky enough to see the Australian production of Cursed Child a few weeks ago and it really got the creativity flowing. Mostly, I really wanted to know what is going to happen to the boys after everything in CC and point out how dissatisfied I was with the ending (Namely the makeup between Harry and Albus. From what I saw, Harry spent most of the play alternating between playing the victim and loosing his temper and that's not a pattern of behavior I think he will change with one incident so I want to show a more gradual change in his behavior, stuff ups and all) 
> 
> Plus, I kinda became fascinated with the similarities and differences between Scorbus and the one acknowledged LGBTI relationship of Grindeldore and how the Wizard World would look at both. 
> 
> Warning: This will get very dark in parts.

The door swung open silently, a gust of freezing air blowing out and washing across the young man’s face, shifting his white hair with the sudden force. The young man blinked, his blue grey eyes watering from the sudden cold before he stepped across the threshold without his permission, as if dragged by invisible ropes, the heels of his polished black shoes softly clicking on the stone ground. The only other noise, the soft swish of his long black robes. 

Beyond the door, a long stone walkway was lit by candles, the gently flickering flames causing shadows to dance, as if hooded figures stood watch. Beyond the walkway was a wide, low staircase, made of polished black stone, leading up to an ornate chair. 

The young man’s grey eyes swept across the room as slowly, the shadows solidified into hooded figures, silver masks glistening under black hoods. 

Shifting his gaze, the young man focused on the chair as he slowly walked across the room towards it, trying to ignore the masked gazes as more and more figures filled the room around him, watching him. 

Across his back, he could feel a rough pressure digging into his shoulders, the ornate spine of his tightly fitted robes forcing his shoulders back, like a reminder of the weight he carried of his family’s pride.

‘Welcome, Scorpius Malfoy” A voice hissed in the darkness, the hiss like that of a snake. 

The young man, Scorpius, lifted his head a little even as a shiver ran down his back. He desperately wanted to stop, to turn from the dark and run far away but it was like his body was not his own, his legs moving forward without his permission, drawing him into the spiderweb like a doomed fly. Above him at the chair, a dark, smoke like shadow formed. It seemed to move, as if alive and watching Scorpius approach. 

At the staircase, another figure stepped out of the dark. Unlike the other figures, shrouded in black robes and masks, the man was unmasked, his long white-blond hair failing down his back and across his black coat like a beacon of light in the darkness. 

Tearing his eyes away from the chair, Scorpius met the grey/blue eyes of his father. 

Draco Malfoy’s face was an unreadable mask of indifference but as father and son’s eyes met, Scorpius could see the conflict in those grey pools, a conflict only someone could see if they knew where to look. Draco hid it well but Scorpius could see the fear and anger in his father’s face. And a look of utter hopelessness. 

Another shadow emerged from behind Draco, a second, older man emerged into the light. 

Like Draco, the man had long white hair, tied back carefully. The man was dressed all in black and carrying an ornate cane with a silver snakes head. 

Although the face of the second man was aged, Scorpius could see the similarities as the man placed his hand on Draco’s shoulder. He knew who this man was. Lucius Malfoy.

For a moment, Scorpius saw a flash of rage in his father’s eyes as the hand came to rest on his shoulder before it disappeared behind the mask of indifference. Lucius grinned in triumph, hand tightening almost threateningly on Draco’s shoulder. 

Quickly, Scorpius tore his eyes away from his father and grandfather, not wanting to see his father looking so trapped and afraid. He looked once more at the chair, no, the throne. 

Without noticing it, Scorpius reached the first step and stopped. 

Slowly, as if the invisible strings which had compelled him forward had been cut one by one, Scorpius felt himself fall to the ground, his knees painfully hitting the cold stone. 

He stayed like that, knees resting on the step, the cold soaking through his pants and into his legs, the stiff backing and tight robes holding his back straight. 

Above him, the shadow solidified. Scorpius felt the rush of fear as a figure he had not seen in years stepped towards him, pale, claw like hands raised in greeting. Lord Voldemort himself approached, eyes staring into Scorpius’ own, the younger man unable to look away from the frightening sight.

“Welcome, Son of Draco, Grandson of Lucius.” The Dark Lord announce, his voice like a hiss. His teeth flashed in a cruel smile. 

After a few moments, Voldemort looked away, scanning the crowd that Scorpius knew was drawing near, surrounding him and blocking his escape. 

“Today, my friends, we welcome this fine young man into our ranks.” 

There was murmur around Scorpius. Giving another wicked smile, the Dark Lord drew his wand. 

“Hold out your arm, young Malfoy and receive your birthright.”

Scorpius gritted his teeth, his left arm rising from his side, even as he fought to lower it, the dark sleeve of his robe falling away to show his pale forearm. 

A white clawed hand grabbed his own, holding his arm steady in a vice like grip. Above him, the Dark Lord lowered the wand until the tip pressed against Scorpius’ arm. 

A burning pain shot down Scorpius arm, causing the younger man to gasp. Unsuccessfully, he tried to pull his arm away from the Dark Lord as the pain grew in intensity, travelling up his forearm. 

Gritting his teeth to muffle the whimper of pain, Scorpius stared as the black ink flowed under the skin on his arm, forming into a skull and a snake. Horrified, Scorpius stared at it for a few seconds before a sharp pain behind his left eye, catching him unaware. 

Grunting, Scorpius raised his free hand to press against his eye, the searing headache causing light flashes to dance across his vision. 

The Dark Lord’s hand suddenly released him and Scorpius found himself falling to the ground, the pain still blinding him, the boning of his robes digging painfully into his back to equal the pain in his forearm and his head. After a few more horrible moments, the pain started to fade. Blinking, Scorpius looked down at the polished black stone he was leaning on. The polish almost like a mirror.

He blinked a few times in horror as he realised that his left eye was no longer the familiar grey of his family but black. 

Above him, there was a chuckle. 

Still gasping for breath, Scorpius raised his head to see the tip of the wind pointed at his head. 

“And so the truth is revealed.” Voldemort smiled. “Grindelwald has returned.” The Dark Lord knelt down, his face drawing close to Scorpius’, the wand never moving from his face. 

“Such a shame.” Voldemort snarled. The tip of the wand glowed green. 

\------

With a gasp, Scorpius shot up from the bed, looking around wildly at the dark room for any danger. 

A hand touched his shoulder, causing him to jump, pulling himself away from the surprise touch. 

“Scorp? Are you ok?” A groggy voice asked. 

Turning towards the other side of the bed as he fought to regain his breath, Scorpius came face to face with a sleepy Albus Potter, his dark hair even more unmanagable then normal, his green eyes blinking back sleep. Albus Potter, his best friend since he was 11 and his acknowledged boyfriend of almost 4 years now, since leaving Hogwarts and the Wizarding World. 

Slowly, Albus rose into a sitting position, his emerald green eyes showing surprise at Scorpius’ skittish behaviour. 

“Bad dream?” Albus asked. Scorpius noticed that he’s boyfriend didn’t reach for him again, clearly taking Scorpius’ surprise at his touch as a signal not to reach out until he knew he was welcome. It was one of Albus’ best traits, being considerate enough to know when his boyfriend needed physical touch and when it was unwelcome. 

Nodding, Scorpius raised his left hand to his head, pressing his fingers against his temple, the phantom pain from the headache still lingering. Covertly, he scanned his left forearm, relieved to see no sign of the Dark Mark on his skin.

Dropping his arm, Scorpius turned and pressed his face against Albus’ bare shoulder. Albus reacted perfectly, wrapping his arms around his boyfriend’s body, one hand running across the scars along Scorpius’ back. 

Scorpius was not someone who generally hugged, having grown up as the heir to the Malfoy family and trained to always be on his dignity. Added to that, a childhood spent dodging the hexes and hits of school bullies had led to Scorpius not willingly touching people he didn’t trust, even in private. There were two exceptions to that rule. Firstly, his father, who had worked hard to brush off the family stigma for the welfare of his son and of course, Albus, Scorpius’ most trusted friend and partner, for whom Scorpius had faced all kinds of danger with and who the light haired wizard took comfort in physical closeness to.

“The Attack?” Albus asked, his hand moving up to run through Scorpius short blond hair. Scorpius stiffened for a moment before shaking his head. 

“The Other World.” He muttered. 

Unseen to him, Albus gave a sympathetic sound. Unlike the Attack, as they had labelled it, the Other World was a horror only Scorpius bore, the terrifying few days stuck in a world where Voldemort had won the war and Albus had not existed. It had been a long time for Scorpius to come to terms with the terror he had felt in those few days as he tried to find a way to save his friend, as well as the subsequent battle with Delphi, the explosive pain of the Cruicatus Curse and their time trapped in the past, fearful for their lives. 

The horrors of the Other World was one Scorpius was happy that Albus didn’t carry but it still affected him deeply, almost more than anything else. For years after the fact, Scorpius had dealt with nightmares of that place and of Delphi and even of standing in Godrics Hollow on the night of the Potters murder, witnessing their final, futile stand against Voldemort. 

He remembered those sleepless nights from his 4th year to his 7th, when he would wake up shaking in fear, still remembering the screams of the students being tortured, the vial coldness of that Hogwart’s halls, Headmistress Umbridge’s sadistic giggle always present in the background of his thoughts. It had become a habit, when those nightmares struck, for Scorpius to cross the dormitory to Albus’ bed and climb in beside his friend. Albus in turn, doing the same then he had nightmares of Delphi torturing Scorpius and murdering Craig and seeing his grandparents murder. 

In a way, it was those nightmares that had helped the two’s relationship to evolve from a deep friendship to a real relationship, the two’s physical closeness helping them both find the courage to admit their feelings for each other, and finally, in their last months of school, become a couple. 

Of course, years later, the two would share nightmares of the attack that had driven them both from the wizarding world. 

A hand running through his hair brought Scorpius back from his thoughts. 

“Are you ok?” Albus asked again, softly. 

Detangling himself from his boyfriends grip, Scorpius turned to look at the Muggle alarm clock on the table next to the bed. It showed 5:30 in the morning. Scorpius had classes in a few short hours and he knew he would not be sleeping again any time soon. Swinging his legs over the bed, the young man stood up. 

“Scorp?” Albus asked.

Scorpius turned and saw that Albus was planning to rise and follow him. Suddenly Scorpius felt guilty. Albus had a late night studying the night before and Scorpius had disturbed his sleep. Albus may not have had any classes that day but it didn't mean he deserved to be rudely woken up because of his boyfriend. 

Leaning across the bed, Scorpius planted a chased kiss on Albus’ lips. 

“Go back to bed.” He whispered. “I’m ok.”

He gave Albus a small smile and could see the doubt across his boyfriends face but Scorpius ignored it, giving Albus a light shove which resulted in the other man falling back onto the bed. 

“I am going to have a shower and breakfast.” He stated, reaching to the floor where his shirt had been left the night before. Quickly, he pulled it on before walking softly out of the room.

The glow of a streetlight greeted Scorpius as he entered the small kitchen of the apartment he and Albus shared, just walking distance from their Collage campus, muggle kitchen utensils glinting in the light. 

Inwardly, Scorpius grinned. He was proud to say, he knew what every one of these appliances was called and more importantly, how to use them, not an easy feet for a Pure Blood Wizard raised with the ever present comfort of Magic. Even Albus had struggled to adapt to a world without magic, despite his father’s knowledge from his early years in the Muggle World and his grandfather’s fascination with muggle culture. But Scorpius found he was thriving.

After the drama of their final year at Hogwarts, it had been almost a relief to turn their backs on the world that had caused them so much pain. 

That had caused Scorpius so much pain. 

Absentmindedly, Scorpius turned on the tap and filled the kettle before setting it to boil. He reached up, rubbing at his shoulder where the worst of the scaring was. 

He had been such a naive child growing up, even in the early years when he was called Voldemort’s child and tormented for the same. 

After Delphi’s reveal as the true child of Voldemort, he had truly believed that the worst was over. He had been so wrong. 

The 4th and 5th years had been the most bearable of his school life, he and Albus living off the reputation they have gained for stealing the Time Turner, Scorpius making the Quidditich team and both of them improving their social standing in the school. But the 6th year had stared the nightmare. 

Scorpius had just turned 16 when a team sent to excavate some ruins had located a new hidden chamber in the remains of Nurmengard Castle, the old Grindelwald Fortress. 

Inside, had been a chest full of dark objects and letters which had shown the relationship between Grindelwald, one of the worst Wizards who ever existed and Albus Dumbledore. 

At first, most of the wizarding world hadn’t reacted to the new proof of the long believed rumour. The relationship between two of the greatest wizards in the world, one good and one dark, had been known about but not approved of among the mostly conservative wizarding community. 

And then journalist Rita Skeeter had struck, re-releasing an update of her slanderous book, ‘The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore’. The new chapter had been all about his relationship with Grindelwald and their ‘passionate love affair through out the ages', as she had called it. She had concluded the newest chapter with a simple question and two photographs. One had showed the young Dumbledore and Grindelwald together, both happy and smiling for the camera. The other had been a candid photo, taken without permission, of Albus and Scorpius, smiling and laughing on the grounds of Hogwarts. 

The parallels had been clear, and Skeeter’s assertion that, if not the child of Voldemort, Scorpius had to be the reincarnation of Grindelwald, had swept through the Wizarding World like a wild fire, the book selling out fast. The rumours about Albus and Scorpius’ sexuality and their supposed similarity to Grindelwald and Dumbledore, had also been condemned by most of the wizard world, even before the two had admitted their love for each other to themselves. 

Draco had immediately sued the reporter and got the book pulled from sale but the damage had already been done. 

Scorpius had found his last years at Hogwarts a continue trial as he had been forced to defend himself against increasingly hostile accusations. Albus too, had copped a lot of the hostility, albeit less the Scorpius, many people choosing to see him as ‘Dumbledore’ reborn and trying to protect him from the darkness, from Scorpius.

Then had come the days after they had graduated. 

Scorpius and Albus had tried not to let the rumours get in the way of their growing relationship, hiding it from everyone they knew in order to avoid any negativity. 

Hell, Scorpius had only confessed to Draco because his father had asked, only the day after Graduation when he had noticed how Scorpius and Albus ignore the celebrations and their classmate’s farewells in favour of being with each other. Scorpius found it almost impossible to lie to his father at the best of times. Thankfully Draco had been very supportive of both boys, glad that his son had found happiness. It had been a single relief in a world that was turning more and more hostile by the day. 

But then Carter Crane had happened. 

A long term mental patient from St Mungo’s who had suffered greatly during the second Wizard War, Crane had become obsessed with Sketter’s story and convinced that only he could stop another magical war. 

Shortly after the end of the year, Crane had escaped from his warded room and tracked Scorpius down. 

Both boys had been out in London for that fateful day, Albus wanting to find some muggle sweets to gift to Draco, the younger Potter wanting to show his appreciation for the older Malfoy’s unconditional support of their relationship. 

The two had been walking along the Thames, dressed in Muggle clothing and enjoying their newfound freedom while discussing how they were going to break the news of their relationship to Albus’ family and what they wanted to do now that they had finished at Hogwarts. Scorpius had been thinking about applying for a Muggle University, as he felt his education was not yet done and was outlining his tentative plan when Crane had struck, careless of the dozens of Muggles surrounding them. 

Curses had filled the air, one striking a nearby car and causing it to explode. Albus, ducking to the ground, had narrowly avoided getting thrown by the blast and the curses.   
Scorpius was not so lucky, getting hit with the full force of the explosion. The resulting panic had sent muggles running and thankfully Crane, realising he had lost his cover, had apparated away before he could do too much more damage. Once he had disappeared, Albus had been left alone with Scorpius, unresponsive and bleeding out, in the middle of the damaged street full of panicking people before a fast responding muggle ambulance had arrived. 

The muggle ambulance had taken them both to the nearest hospital where, after being checked over, Albus had managed to send a message to both Draco Malfoy and the Potters. 

Draco and Ginny Potter had both arrived in record time, Draco already calling up every healer he knew to help save his son. However, Scorpius already being in surgery, and Draco had been forced to admit, it hadn’t been safe for them to move him. Scorpius life had literally been left in the hands of muggles. 

Harry, on the other hand, had not arrived until far later in the day. 

Scorpius had been unconscious for days and by the time he awoke and was transferred to St Mungo’s the damage had been done. Not only would he always bare the scars of the Attack, but Albus had informed his father of their relationship. 

Scorpius was not sure of what had transpired between them but he knew that he was thankful for his father being there, stopping Harry when, in anger, had drawn his wand and threatened Albus to force him to either abandon Scorpius or lose his family. 

Draco had acted the moment Harry had apparated away, removing Scorpius from his bed and transporting both him and Albus to Malfoy Manor where he knew they would be safe. 

The three had stayed in Scorpius room, talking long into the night (well, Scorpius, still weak from the attack had fallen asleep) and by the morning, Albus had made his choice. 

As Draco had feared, it was no longer safe for Scorpius in the Wizarding World. Crane had not been found and the aurors were seemingly doing little to try and locate him. Harry Potter, the head Auror, had shown himself by his own admission, to believe the rumours and hostile towards the younger Malfoy to Albus’ and Draco’s horror. There was no way that they could predict another attack. 

Draco had, through his connections, produced two passports and arranged admission for both of them into a Collage in America, disguised as two muggle students to avoid any interest from MACUSA or any other Wizard organisations. 

The two had immediately packed their things (Albus had refused to go home, fearing that his father would attempt to detain him on some legal grounds) and boarded the plane to America as soon as Scorpius was fit to leave (The idea of a Portkey had been ruled out as too easily tracked by the Aurors that would inevitably come after them), only leaving a single letter to Ginny Potter, to be delivered by Draco once the two were out of the country. 

Leaving his father behind had been particularly hard for Scorpius but thankfully, Draco had mastered the mobile telephone and kept one hidden in the Manor so he could contact his son in emergencies. He had also set up a muggle letter box so both Albus and Scorpius could write to him and he could pass on any letters to any others they wished. 

Draco had also organised their apartment and had continued to fund them secretly, exchanging vast amounts from the Malfoy fortune to American Muggle money, allowing both to have a comfortable life as they studied. 

Scorpius liked to think he had taken to the Muggle World, working towards his degree in History (Albus still called him a nerd for his love of the subject but Muggle history was just as, if not even more, interesting then Wizard history) Albus had found a surprising love for Science and Chemistry which was similar to Potions, and was working towards his own degree in the subjects. 

When not studying, they both enjoyed working with the local LGBTIQ group. 

The idea had been a new one to both young men when they had arrived in America. In the wizard world, the idea of being anything other than Heterosexual was, although not condemned, looked down on. Hell, Scorpius was the product of a family obsessed with purity of the blood and generating heirs to preserve the family name. 

Even when they had gotten together and were prepared to face the world, neither had thought their relationship could be out in the open like it was now. 

They had made friends, actual friends among the community. Actual people who didn’t judge them for their families or their last names (Admittedly, both Scorpius and Albus had taken on new names, mostly to avoid any people who might be looking for them) the scary resemblance they had to both their fathers or for rumors they couldn’t control. People who weren’t hostile over them being together. 

It almost brought Scorpius to tears to think of the support they had been given over the last 4 years. 

In the kitchen, the kettle gave a click as the power cut off, signalling that the water was boiled. 

Automatically, Scorpius went through the steps to make himself some tea. On the table, he spied a sealed letter. The address was to his father’s post box. Scorpius smiled to himself and promised himself he would post it on his way to classes in a few hours. 

His smile faded as he thought back on his dream. 

What had disturbed him, apart from the presence of Voldemort and the mention of Grindelwald, was the presence of another wizard. 

Scorpius had never known his grandfather, Lucius. 

The man had been sent to Azkaban shortly before Scorpius had been born, thanks to an attempted uprising against the Ministry of Magic. Scorpius was with his father in agreeing that it was foolish. Lucius had escaped that horrible place by switching sides during the Battle of Hogwarts and like Draco, had been spared prison. But it was clear the darkness had never left Lucius Malfoy and his subsequent attack on the Ministry before Scorpius was born had earned him a life sentence in the wizard prison. 

Scorpius didn’t even know if the man was still alive. He had never visited him in prison, his father not willing to revisit the past and blight his precious son with the physical evidence of their family’s infamy. Hell, his father had gotten rid of all mention of Lucius Malfoy, Scorpius only knowing what the man looked like from old books and clippings from the Daily Prophet. 

Scorpius didn’t understand why the man had been in his dream. Or why his father had looked so trapped while standing beside him. Sure, Scorpius could remember meeting his father in the Other World, Draco appearing a lot darker than the man who had raised Scorpius but still, Scorpius had been able to detect traces of the good man his father was, underneath the mask, and even managed to get Draco’s blessing to attempt to fix the universe, albeit secretly.

This version of Draco was beaten, downcast, so different from the man Scorpius knew and loved. It had scared Scorpius more than he was willing to admit, to think of the life his father had lived under his grandfathers hands. 

Brushing aside the unease, Scorpius brought his tea to the couch where Albus’ books were stacked in a messy pile. Pushing them aside, he sat down and pulled his latest assignment towards him, preparing to read over his work. 

It felt like a few seconds later that he was shaken awake, Albus standing over him and smiling. 

“Wake up.” The brunet grinned, eyes flashing. He had put his contacts in, the blue lenses disguising his natural green eyes. Albus had succumbed to his father’s family’s poor eyesight fairly late in his life (by their standards) and had chosen to forgo glasses (and another comparison to his hated dad) for a set of muggle contact lenses.

He had been wearing the blue contacts since their arrival in America and Scorpius was secretly thrilled that he was the only person in the country who knew his boyfriends true eye colour. 

“What time is it?” Scorpius asked, rising from the couch. 

“Late enough. You have class in 15 minutes by the way. Better run.” Albus grinned. 

Scorpius swore and immediately sprang into action, almost tripping over the couch as he catapulted over it, ignoring Albus laugh at his undignified actions as he ran into their bedroom to change into fresh clothing. Re-emerging moments later, juggling the tasks of pulling a fresh shirt over his head and tying up the laces of his shoes, Scorpius grabbed at his books and shoved them into his bag before running towards the door. Albus was already standing by the door, a piece of toast in one hand. As Scorpius passed, Albus pressed a quick kiss to his cheek and pushed the toast into his hand. 

“Have fun love!” The brunet called.

Scorpius gave him a grateful smile before he ran out the door, leaving the envelope forgotten.


	2. Chapter 2

“Hey Scott!” A voice called, as finally, finally, Scorpius left the lecture hall. He turned towards the voice as a person ran towards him. He smiled, recovered from his nightmare and abrupt start to the day. 

“Hi Tay.” He greeted. 

Tay was a friend from the LGBTIQ group. They were also studying History with Scorpius and had been a great support in his first year of college. 

“So, Scotty, are you and Al coming to the dinner tonight?” Tay asked, matching Scorpius step as the two strolled across the collage grounds towards the library. 

“Of course we are.” Scorpius grinned happily. He loved going to dinners with his new group of friends. They were great friends to both Scorpius and Albus and never once, had Scorpius felt like an outsider or unwanted when with any of the group.

“Good. It would be shit for you to miss your own party.” Tay paused, suddenly looking horrified. “I mean not party. I mean, we should have a party. You turn 21 soon. The big 2. 1. Gotta celebrate it. We are totally not planning a surprise party for you, not at all….please forget I said anything?”

Scorpius laughed. In a way, Tay reminded him so much of himself as a younger boy, all nervous energy and babbling mess but with a good heart. Tay was the sort of friend who could talk your head off and occasionally had to be told to be quiet but was still so loyal to those they loved. A lot of the time Scorpius found himself getting into long conversations, more like argument with Tay over points of history or literature or even the latest tv show. It was all in good fun, of course and Scorpius knew most of their group got a kick out of it, even placing bets on who would win the arguement. 

“No surprise party. Got it.” He replied. Tay looked relieved, their shoulders sagging noticeably. 

“Ok then. So you are in for the not party. Good to know. Now to more pressing matters. Please tell me you finally watched that last episode of Doctor Who! Because I am sick of only being able to talk about it with Alice.”

Scorpius laughed again and confirmed that he had watched the episode in question, letting Tay pull him into a long conversation about every detail of his favorite Sci-fi show. Because he was paying attention to his friend, he didn’t see the cloaked figure standing in the shadows of the building, watching them. 

\-----

Albus was having a good day. After his late night studying the night before, he had been happy to have no classes that day and had even managed to finish one of his assignments, no mean feat for him given his normal aversion to homework as a child. He had also applied for a lab position at a local factory which should help him get into the job market. Although Scorpius’ dad was happy to fund their education and all their needs, Albus looked forward to the day when they could be financially dependent. He had also managed a lunch with his friend Alice and her girlfriend Sam when they were on break from classes, where they had hashed out the final plans for Scorp’s surprise early 21st birthday party that night. Now he made his way back to the apartment he and Scorpius shared. On the way, he had swung by the post office to find a large letter addressed to him from Draco Malfoy. Holding it had sent nervous energy racing through him.

Although he knew what the answer to the question he had sent Mr Malfoy would most likely be, a small part of him was still nervous about the letter. Although it was still a week away, he wanted his boyfriend’s birthday to be perfect. 

He had planned the surprise party for that night, to ensure all their friends would be there but his actual present would not be until the day Scorpius turned 21. 

And it had to be good. Perfect in fact. Nothing but the best for his Scorpion (Scorpius still pulled a face when Albus gave him that pet name but it was better then Scorpion King, the reminder of the name he had been given in the dark world, which Rose had joked about for most of their 4th year) 

Rushing the final few steps to the second story, Albus unlocked the door to the apartment and stepped into the small living room. 

Their apartment was the very image of a muggle home, not a trace of magic in sight. In fact, only 2 items in the whole place were in any way connected to their former lives. 

Their wands, both replacements for the ones Delphi had broken that night when she had taken them prisoner, were hidden in a box under their bed, the only reminders of their lives in the wizarding world. 

Sometimes, Albus missed the wizarding world. He certainly missed his family. His mum was no doubt struggling with his disappearance and he missed Lily and her sweet teasing. He even missed James, although not as much as Lily. He missed his uncle Ron and aunt Hermione. He missed his grandparents and all his other uncles and aunts and cousins. He missed seeing Mr Malfoy in person and trying to make the man smile. He missed the joy of magic.

The one thing he didn’t miss was his father. 

His father who had forced him to choose between the man he loved and his family. The man who had called his boyfriend such horrible names to his very face. His father who had always been the famous Harry Potter first and never cared to be a good dad, who always had to try and one-up his own sons problems, using any excuse to point out how good Albus childhood had been and ignoring any problems the younger wizard faced by pointing out his own past to gain sympathy. 

When Albus was 14, he had truly believed that his father had turned a corner after the Delphi incident. But it had become clear quickly had the long standing resentment Harry held for his son not being perfect was not going to leave because of one adventure. Albus was a failure in Harry’s eyes and Albus was sick of living with that on his shoulders. It still made Albus’ face flush with anger, thinking about it. 

Mr Malfoy had been kind enough to keep Albus up to date with his family as much as he could. Draco had to be careful not to give away that he knew where the two were hiding. He told Albus how after they left, Harry had driven himself into the ground, trying to track them down, how every Auror in England had been tasked to find them. How even aunt Hermione had approved funds for the search. He had been told how James had decided to follow in their famous father’s footsteps and become an Auror to attempt to track down his wayward brother. He had been told how Rita Skeeter had tried to again slander Scorpius now that he was gone and had faced the full force of both Draco Malfoy and Ginny Potter who had insured she would never write such slander again. He was told how his mother had suffered deeply from Albus’ exile, Draco taking it upon himself to inform Ginny of the fight between Albus and Harry where Harry had gone so far as to draw his wand on his own son. 

Albus hated that his mother had been forced to find out these parts of her husband. Albus knew his father had always had anger issues (hell, he did too sometimes) and he was sure that Ginny had witnessed them before but to see her child the focus of the anger, to be forced to flee his home on the word of his father must have hurt her deeply. 

He knew that, although still married, Ginny had moved briefly back into the Burrow with her parents and away from dad. In a way, he was glad for it, glad that his mum was supported. 

He was also thankful that, through Mr Malfoy’s network, he had managed to get a letter, untraceable, to her to let her know he was ok. (It was funny how, despite having magic, a simple muggle letter stumped the greatest Aurors in England)

He had been surprised when, only a few months into their exile, Mr Malfoy had sent them word of his mother’s reply. It seemed that she guessed Draco had a line of communication with them and, instead of telling her husband and bringing down the might of the Ministry in Mr Malfoy, simply asked to pass on a message of love to both Albus and Scorpius. 

Mr Malfoy had been happy to do so and at least three times a year, Albus and Scorpius received a letter from Ginny, on Christmas and both their birthdays. 

At first both Albus and Scorpius had been wary of these letters, searching for tracking charms but after a while, they had relaxed. They knew that My Malfoy was also vigilant for such charms and would check everything that got sent through. 

Finally, Albus got to work, opening the envelope. As he suspected, there were several letters stuffed inside. Two were addressed to Scorpius, one in his mother’s handwriting and one in Mr Malfoys. Another letter from his mum addressed to both of them was in there along with a letter addressed to Albus. Albus recognised Mr Malfoys handwriting. 

Opening it, Albus quickly scanned the text, looking for the words he longed to hear. 

Finally, a line caught his eye. 

‘And with those reasons, I give you my blessing...’

Albus didn’t bother to read further. Instead, he dropped the letter and gave a whoop of joy, smile plastered on his face as he punched the air in triumph. 

It took him a few moments of celebration before he realised he had dropped the letter. Hurriedly, he picked it up and shoved it back in the envelope. He walked into the bedroom and hide the envelope in his sock draw, next to the small black box. It would give the game away if Scorpius was to find either item. 

As he was placing the letter safely under a pair of socks, a ringing sound caught his ears. He turned and went back to the kitchen where he had left his mobile phone. 

It had been one of the muggle devices Albus liked the most. Not having to rely on letters or fireplaces or owls was a great thing and being able to have a conversation with someone without having to search for them was amazing. 

He grabbed the phone and scanned the number before grinning and answering. 

“Hi Tay.” He greeted. 

“Ok, so I didn’t give away the party. I thought I had for a second but I didn’t. Just maybe don’t be too disappointed if Scott doesn’t seem surprised. I can assure you, he will be.” Tay rambled. 

Albus couldn’t help but laugh. Tay was awesome, there was no other way to describe them. 

“Great.” He replied. “How’s Scott?”

It had taken both Scorpius and Albus while to get used to their new names but they had finally managed it. To the muggle world, they were Scott Mallory and Alan Pritchett, exchange students from England, come to study in America. Both names were chosen for their similarities to the wizards actual names and because any mistakes where the boys said their real names could be covered by their accents. 

“He’s good. We had lunch and he is off to his last class. I am going to meet him in the library after he finishes his tutor job and will get him to the diner after. Just make sure to let me know if I need to give you guys more time.” 

Albus smiled. 

“All good Tay. Alice and Sam have everything ready and the rest know the time and place so all we need is the soon to be birthday boy.”

“Damn, Scott is lucky. You are dragging his birthday out for a whole week. Wish I had someone to do that for me.”

“You will Tay. I have no doubts.” Albus said warmly. 

“Wish I had your faith Al.” Tay replied. “But it doesn’t matter. Even if I find a Mx Right, I don’t think I will ever be as shippable as you two.”

“Ha ha.” Albus replied, pressing the phone into his shoulder as he arranged the letters for Scorpius to see when he got home. 

“Alright. I gotta go. See you tonight Al. I will be the one trailing after your gorgeous boyfriend.”

“Bye Tay.” Albus replied before putting the phone down. 

\------

In the spacious living room of Malfoy Manor, a middle aged man sat, a book resting in his lap. He was dressed in a tailored black suit, his long blond hair pulled away from his face in a simple yet dignified style. A small glass of fire whiskey sat at his side, untouched. 

Above him, a clock chimed the hour. It was getting late. 

Looking up from his book, Draco Malfoy scanned the room, his eyes coming to rest on a photo resting on the small table. It showed three people. Draco himself, albeit much younger, standing proudly next to his wife Astoria. Astoria was smiling brightly, her beautiful dark hair falling in waves down her shoulders. One of her hands was in Draco’s, the other wrapped around the shoulders of a young boy. Like his mother, Scorpius was grinning. Occasionally, the then eleven year old boy would look up at his parents with love in his eyes. Draco watched as in the photo, Astoria turned and planted a kiss on his younger self’s cheek, his younger self looking back at his wife with such love as Scorpius burrowed into his side, forcing Draco to wrap his arm around the boy too. Scorpius gave an unheard laugh. 

Lowering his book, Draco leant forward, watching the photo and his wife and son. 

“You would be so proud of him Tori.” He muttered, a small, sad smile across his face. 

He had never expected his life to become this. Sure, when he was a child and behold to his father, Draco had been led to expect a certain life as a powerful wizard and member of one of the most powerful families, leading them to glory. 

But when he had married Astoria and when Scorpius had been born, he had found that belief shattered and something far more preferable to imagine. For a while he had even hoped to reach his old age with his wife by his side, their son happy and whole. 

But that was not to be. Here he was, soon to reach 50 years old, a widower with his son in exile from his home. 

And yet, there was cause for joy. 

Albus Potter’s letter which had arrived just days before had made Draco beam with happiness, despite himself. 

It had been years since he had seen his son, the risk of discovery too great. Draco knew that if the Ministry discovered where the boys were, it could only end in disaster. Harry Potter had seemed to grow to accept that he was to blame in his son’s disappearance and his reaction to Draco was now friendlier then it had been but Draco knew the man could turn, should he discover where his son was. And his hellspawn James Potter was equally as fanatical. Every so often, the boy would come after Draco, demanding to know where his brother was hiding. Draco had faced down far greater wizards then James Potter and would not be intimidated by the boy but it was still irritating. 

Thankfully Ginny was still friendly to Draco and would reign in her child when he got too annoying. The Ministry too, had actually done some good, helping to squash the rumours about Scorpius being Grindelwald, not that it had helped. Like the Voldemort rumours, Hermione was not interested in actually helping until it was far too late. 

Had the Ministry acted sooner, Draco knew that Scorpius would never have been attacked by Crane. Both Harry and Hermione had Scorpius’ blood on their hands for that and Draco would never forgive them, although, for the sake of his dignity, he would strive to be civil to them both. Someone had to be the dignified person in this situation and Harry Potter was not capable of being that person. 

Thankfully, Draco could still go on with his daily business without suspicion. It had been 4 years now and the Aurors Draco knew were sent to report his movements to the Ministry were tired of watching him simply to try and find their bosses runaway son. Draco knew a few of the more junior Aurors resented their boss for making them secretly watch the older Malfoy. It didn’t help that Draco strove to make their duty as boring as possible, conducting most of his business from the Manor and rarely leaving except to walk the local Muggles Farmers Market to buy food. It was remarkably easy to annoy the younger Aurors, especially the youngest Potter who had clearly inherited his father’s lack of brains. 

Draco had several holdings in America he had neglected to give the boys a chance to settle into their new lives. It was about time he started to give them his attention. He had already owl’d several of his contacts in MACUSA and in the private sector. A trip to America was not out of the question, and Draco doubted it would raise suspicion. And if he just happened to slip away for a few hours on what happened to be his son’s 21st birthday, well that was no one’s business but his. 

Yes, a trip to America sounded like a good idea. And getting out of the Manor would be wonderful. He hated it here, on his own. It was the ancestral home of the Malfoys and as such, Draco felt obliged to live there but he hated it with a passion, only staying because to move would draw suspicion on him and he was not willing to compromise his son in any way. It had been better when Scorpius had lived with him. Scorpius had been such a bright child, even with the rumours and had made the dark place seem lighter. 

But now, alone in the house, Draco could feel the chill of generations of darkness. Too often, he would walk along the corridors and remember the place crawling with Death Eaters, the rooms ice cold with dread. The West Wing, the strong hold of Voldemort’s forces and where it turned out, Delphini Riddle had been born (Draco was still unsure how he hadn’t known about this. He suspected his mother had something to do with it, keeping her sisters pregnancy hidden from everyone in the house and getting the girl out before the end. He had asked her portrait once but received no answer) had been locked up so that no one could ever get in there again, not that anyone would try. Malfoy Manor had a dark stigma around it. No one would dare approach. It was safe to leave. 

He had already shot off an Owl to arrange a Portkey. He would leave as soon as possible to America. Reaching to the table where a quill and parchment awaiting him, he quickly wrote a few words down. 

After a few moments, the hairs on the back of Draco’s neck suddenly stood up. Turning, Draco met a pair of eyes from the portrait above the fireplace. 

“Mother.” He nodded politely towards the canvas likeness of Narcissa Malfoy as he placed the quill back in the inkwell and pushed the parchment safely aside. The portrait nodded in acknowledgement but didn’t say anything. Draco was not surprised. 

The portrait was initially of both his parents but after his father’s arrest, Draco had banished Lucius from the portrait. He hadn’t wanted any reminder of the man who had put his family at risk, especially not around Scorpius. 

Draco knew that Lucius’ likeness was now stalking around the portraits upstairs in the locked west wing. Some of the other portraits had told him about the bad tempered canvas. Narcissa, although not banished, had chosen to spend most of her time with her husband, appalled at Draco’s treatment of his fathers image, although through the years she had emerged in the large frame, normally to see Scorpius. She was fascinated by the boy, the same way the real Narcissa had been, even though she had long since died. 

Still, it was strange that the portrait was here now. Raising an eyebrow, Draco sent her a questioning look but she made no reply, instead staring down at her son. 

A small voice cleared its throat. 

“What is it Daisy?’’ Draco asked, still staring down the portrait of his mother. 

There was the shuffle of nervous feet before a female house elf approached Draco’s chair. 

“Special edition of the Daily Prophet just arrived Master.” She squeaked. “And a bunch of owls have come in for you and more by the minute.”

Draco tore his eyes away from his mother’s painting to stare at the house elf. She was a free elf (Astoria’s work) and had been with the Malfoy family since Draco was a child, her loyalty to the family commendable, even though her earlier years had been terrible at the hands of Draco’s father. She was holding out a copy of the Prophet towards him. He stood up and took the paper from her, opening it to the front page. 

He was shocked to see the title stamped across it in bold letters ‘MASS ESCAPE FROM AZKABAN!’

Quickly, he opened the paper to scan the articles, his heart racing as he read the names of the criminals who had escaped, their pictures glaring up at him from the pages. 

In horror, he looked at the face of his own father, ravaged by time but no less recognisable. 

Dropping the paper, Draco strolled to the fire place and grabbed a box of Floo Powder. 

“Place the house in lockdown. No one is to get in until I return.” He ordered to the House Elf, knowing she would pass the message along to the other staff.

“Yes Master.” Daisy squeaked as Draco threw a handful of powder into the fireplace and stepped into the flames, muttering his destination before he disappeared.

\------

Harry was not having a good day. Merlin, if he were to be honest, he wasn’t having a good week. And his year was pretty average too. 

The Azkaban Breakout had set everyone on edge and Hermione was on the war path over it. Harry himself, along with several of his best Aurors had been made to visit the famous prison to figure out how in Dumbledore’s name, it had happened. 

Thankfully, Delphini Lestrange (They had refused to try her under the name Riddle. The Ministry had initially attempted to keep the identity of Delphi’s father under wraps, not wanting a panic to ensue if word got out that Voldemort had indeed, fathered a child. Instead, she had been given the name her mother had operated under. The denial of her heritage had driven the woman as insane as her mother, even as the Ministry had failed to keep secret their high profile prisoner) was still in her cell, babbling incoherently to herself, her mind long since broken. But that had been the only relief. A lot of dark wizards had escaped, Theodore Knott and Rabastan Lestrange among them, and Harry still had no clues as to how they had done it. 

The worst of all, Lucius Malfoy was gone. 

Harry knew, deep down, he should Owl Draco and let the other man know of his father’s escape before Draco found out by the man turning up on his doorstep or some other horrible means. 

Another Ministry secret was that Draco had been instrumental in Lucius’ capture the first time, when the man had gone after Hermione who had been running for office at the time and all the senior Ministry officials in an attempt to destabilise the Wizard community. They had never talked about it, partly because Harry hadn’t known what to say to his enemy, turned reluctant ally, and mostly because shortly after, Draco and his family had disappeared from the spotlight and become unreachable with the birth of his son. 

At the time, Harry had been convinced that Draco had disappeared because of the shame of turning against his father and later, with the rumours of Scorpius’ parentage. Harry had allowed himself to believe the lies for a short while too, which had certainly damaged their chance of even a small friendship for a long time. 

Merlin, Harry hadn’t allowed himself to think of Scorpius Malfoy in a long time. His son’s best friend from the age of eleven, the child had been forced to deal with more dragon shit then anyone Harry knew. 

Harry had often been the target of unfair rumours. The Heir to Slytherin was a particularly bad one that Harry had endured for half a year. But Scorpius had lived with these vial rumours, of being Voldemorts son and later, being the reincarnation of Grindelwald, for most of his life. And in the end, it had almost cost both Scorpius and Albus their lives. 

Harry was not proud of how he had handled that whole situation. 

Firstly the years where he had refused to help Draco dispel the Voldemort rumours, even when the man had been reduced to begging for Harry’s help (as much as a Malfoy could beg. It must have cost Draco his pride to speak the rumour aloud). And then Rita Skeeter’s book which had resulted in the Crane attack. 

Then his actions when Harry had learnt of Crane’s attack, He had been furious. Not at Crane but at Scorpius. He hated the fact that someone had gotten to his child, that Albus had put himself at risk for the other boy. They had only just graduated Hogwarts and Albus’ life was already under threat and Harry hadn’t been there to protect him.

Harry and his team had immediately gotten to work, making the muggles believe that the attack was a terrorist attack, liaising with the Muggle Government to hide the truth and wiping memories of the incident from the poor unfortunate Muggle witnesses.

By the time he had received Ginny’s irate Owl to get to the hospital, it had been a whole day since the attack and Hermione, on receiving her own angry owl from Ron, had threatened to kick Harry out of the building if he didn’t go see his son. On arrival, Harry had spied Albus, sitting in the waiting room with Draco, a few bruises and bandages on his face and Harry had seen red. It wasn’t until later that he had even realised that Scorpius wasn’t there, that the other boy was in another part of the hospital, fighting for his life. All he had seen was the damage to his precious son and he had hated Scorpius Malfoy for it. 

He hadn’t expected Albus to fight him, for the screaming match to escalate to what it became. Albus had always been quick temptered, something Ginny said he had inherited from Harry, but normally, Harry was able to keep his tempter around the younger man. Only once before had he truly lost his temper at his son and it had blown up in his face. He hadn’t expected Albus to, in a fit of rage, reveal the extent of his relationship with the younger Malfoy. In hindsight, he should have seen it coming.

Harry didn’t even remember drawing his wand on his son, demanding that Albus chose between his family and his friend (more than friend. Inside, Harry had known about the relationship, possible before Albus did. He had thought he didn’t have an issue with it until everything had come crashing down around him). Even now, he had no idea what he had been planning to do with it. But he did remember Draco’s right hook, knocking him to the ground and snatching the wand from his grip before he could utter a single spell. He remembered Draco standing over him, one arm wrapped protectively around Albus as Harry’s son stared at him in horror and fear. 

Harry had risen shakily to his feet, his face throbbing from the blow. Draco had never been the sort to use physical violence when he could use magic and the punch had shaken Harry more than he was prepared to admit (and although he wasn’t ever going to say it aloud, was probably justified)

“Albus.” He remembered saying to his son and starting as Albus had turned his face away and pressed himself against Draco’s side, refusing to look at Harry, refusing to listen. 

“Leave Potter.” Draco had hissed, still keeping a protective grip on Albus’ shoulder. “Now.”

Harry remembered Draco throwing the wand back at him, looking at him with absolute disgust before Harry, shoulders slumped, had retreated to his office in the Ministry to bury himself in his work and try not to think about what he had almost done. 

Harry hadn’t returned home for a few days, choosing to sleep in his office and try to figure out how his life had become so screwed up and when he did, the nightmare had truly begun. Albus and Scorpius were both gone and Draco had told Ginny of their confrontation. 

Ginny had been furious. Their son had fled and unlike his kidnapping at the hands of Delphi, it was all Harry’s fault. 

Harry had never truly been the object of his wife’s hatred before that night when Ginny had packed up, taken Lily to the Burrow (James had been on tour in France) with strict instructions that Harry was to find Albus, apologise and not contact them until he did. 

Harry, in a state of misery, had tried his best. But locating his son, even to apologise for what he had done, had been impossible. Albus and Scoprius had become ghosts in the wizarding world. Even when Harry had called the whole Ministry and anyone else who owed him favours in to try and find his son, he had been unsuccessful. Not since that fateful day when Albus was 14 and trapped in the past fighting Delphi, had Harry felt so helpless. 

It was a few days later when he had finally heard from Albus. Albus had managed to get a letter through to Ginny, telling her that he was alright and he and Scorpius were not coming back. The letter had made no mention of Harry, not of their fight or Harry’s idiotic ultimatum to his son. No reference to him at all. Albus was blocking him out. 

Ginny, reluctantly, had moved back home and she and Harry had begun the long process of attempting to repair their fractured relationship, both of them very aware of the missing piece of their family. 

Harry had gotten ahold of Albus letter one night and cast every tracking charm he could think of on it but to no affect. Albus was too good at hiding and he had reason to. Never before had Harry seen his own child so frightened. And of him. 

Albus’ disappearance had hurt more than just Ginny and Harry. Lily, still a Hogwarts student at the time, had been devastated to learn her brother’s disappearance and had immediately blamed her father, freezing him out of her life. It had almost been a relief when she had left for the start of her 6th year of school but the damage was insurmountable. Even now, their relationship was strained, Lily no longer looking on her father like he was the light in her world. And James… despite his constant teasing, James adored his little brother and wanted him back badly. It was the driving force that had led to James leaving his career as a professional Quidditch player like his mother in order to focus on finding his brother. 

Harry had, with some surprise, discovered that both his children had already known about Albus relationship with Scorpius and both were also worried for the missing Malfoy. James had had the making of a talented Auror, had joined the Ministry with the goal of finding the two missing men. Despite his pride in his oldest, Harry wished he hadn’t joined in such circumstances. Not at the cost of his brother.

The search was entering its 4th year now. If it wasn’t for the occasional letter Albus somehow managed to send to Ginny, Harry would have fallen into desire. As it was, the search had dwindled to just Harry and James. Hermione tried to help too but she couldn’t be seen to provide too much of her time. She was the Minister of Magic and as such, she had a duty to the whole Wizard World. 

Ron too, kept his ear to the ground to little affect. As he had said multiple times ‘when you run a joke shop, no one takes you seriously’.

Initially, Harry thought Draco would help, given his reaction to the Delphi incident but the older Malfoy had made it clear that he was not interested in Harry ‘ruining’ his son’s life. Harry strongly suspected that Draco knew exactly where the boys were hiding and was possibly funding them but Draco was too good at covering his tracks and without proof, Harry could not go after him. Not that he hadn’t tried once, early on in the search. It had almost cost him his job when Hermione had found out.

Harry was already on thin ice as it was. And if he was honest with himself, he was tired of fighting with Draco. Tired of constantly being at odds with the other man. And with the search in its 4th year, he had had a lot of time to reflect. If Draco had a line to Albus, then he was clearly helping the boy contact Ginny, the occasional letters appearing to let Ginny and Harry know that their son was thriving away from the Wizard World. Harry couldn’t truly blame Draco for that, even if he resented the man having contact with Albus where Harry didn’t. 

Shaking his head, Harry tried to get back to the task at hand. Lucius Malfoy, along with several others, had escaped from Azkaban. 

Harry had no idea where they could be heading or what their plans were. When Harry and his team had visited the cells of the escaped prisoners, they had been empty, nothing to show what was being planned. But something had to be in the works. Something bad. A mass breakout from one of the most secure wizard prisons in the world could not be spontaneous. This had to be planned for a long time. 

There was a commotion outside Harry’s office, raised voices shouting at one another. 

Standing up, Harry peeked outside. He froze. 

Before the door, James was standing, nose to nose with Draco Malfoy. Malfoy looked proud and tall, staring down at James, who was a good deal shorter then him and who was clearly trying to prevent him from getting into Harry’s office. 

“Do not waste my time Potter.” Draco was saying, voice dangerously low. 

“Tell us where they are Malfoy.” James spat back. “I know you know.”

Quickly, Harry opened the door to his office. 

“James. Enough.” He stated. James turned to stare at Harry, his blue eyes looking into his father’s green ones. “I believe you have a report due. I expect it on my desk in an hour.” 

James glared at his father for a moment before turning and deliberately shoving past Draco, swearing under his breath as he made his way back to his desk. 

Draco turned his grey eyes on Harry. 

“Draco. Please come in.” Harry stated through gritted teeth. He could already guess what this was about. Someone must have talked to the Prophet and now Draco was out for blood. 

Returning to his office, Harry was very aware of Draco stalking in behind him. 

He turned, prepared to offer Draco a drink, partly to be a good host but mostly to give him time to mentally prepare himself but Draco wasn’t having any of it. 

“Lucius Malfoy. Why was I not informed?” The blond man spat. 

Harry closed his eyes and took a deep breath before opening them again. 

“We have it handled.” He replied. “we…”

“Oh really?” Draco cut in. “You have it handled. It’s been a week. A week Potter. My father has been on the run for a whole week and you didn’t see fit to inform me?”

“Draco…” Harry started. To be honest, he didn’t know what to say in reply. Yes, he should have told Draco about Lucius escape. If anyone was in danger from the man, it would be Draco. Lucius was all too aware of who had been the cause of his capture and that would no doubt wish to punish Draco for his betrayal. 

“….I’m sorry.” He muttered. “I should have owl’d you. I just. I didn’t know what to say.”

“Your father has escaped from Azkaban. How about starting with that?” Draco shot back. 

Harry felt his face flush with anger. 

“It wasn’t that easy.” He defended himself. 

“Do you even know where he is?” Draco asked. 

“Do you?” Harry shot back. 

Draco’s eyes flashed but Harry saw him subside slightly. Harry too slumped back. For a moment, they weren’t the childhood enemies they had once been, nor the barley tolerant and reluctant allies the incident with Delphi had turned them into. Instead they were two tired men, stick of all the fighting and pain from a war that should have been over years ago.

“Do you have any idea what is he planning?” Draco finally asked. 

Harry shook his head. 

“His cell was empty. The guards all state they don’t know anything. Lucius kept to himself mostly, not interacting with the other prisoners and none of them ever heard anything suspicious from him.”

Harry looked up at Draco who was starting at the wall, lost in thought. His fingers were drumming against his thigh absentmindedly. For a moment, Harry remembered his first meeting with Lucius when he was just a child. The man had been stern, proud and would never be caught fidgeting. It struck Harry suddenly that, despite their physical similarities, Draco was nothing like his father. 

“Do you know of any safe houses he might have? Anywhere he could go?” Harry finally asked. For a moment, he through about Malfoy Manor. If the escaped prisoners had gone there, Draco would more than likely be their prisoner or dead, not be standing in his office now. 

Draco shook his head. 

“I gave up all my father’s secrets years ago. If he had anywhere, I never knew about it.”

Harry nodded. He knew that Draco had been kept from the worst secrets of his family during the second Wizard War, both because of his youth and because of the protection of his mother who was trying to save him from danger. 

“And the Manor? Would Lucius go there?” Harry asked. He already knew the answer but he had to rule it out. Just in case. 

“He would be foolish to. Its heavily warded and I got rid of any Dark items long ago.”

“Except a Time Turner.” Harry shot back. 

Draco gave him a look which clearly said Harry should be grateful that Draco had kept the Time Turner. It had saved both their sons lives in the end. 

“How’s your mark?” Harry asked. He had wanted to avoid the question but there was no way around it. It was an insensitive but it needed to be asked. 

Draco’s expression changed to a blank mask of indifference, preventing Harry from guessing his feelings on being asked about a mark gained during such a dark and shameful moment in his life. 

“No change.” He replied after a few moments of silence. As if to prove the point, Draco pulled up his sleeve, showing the scar across his forearm, the remains of the Dark Mark. 

“Yours?” He shot back, knowing that Harry had the same reaction when his own scar was mentioned. But Harry was ready for it. 

“Nothing.” Harry nodded as Draco dropped his sleeve. 

The two stood in silence for a long moment, staring at each other, neither sure of what to say.

“It’s Scorpius’ birthday soon, isn’t it?” Harry finally asked before he could stop himself. Inwardly, he winced at the error. Draco’s mask broke for a second before a scowl crossed his face, the man remembering their unpleasant confrontation in the hospital those years ago as well as Harry did.

“Let me know if you hear anything about Lucius.” He replied, turning so fast towards the door, his blond hair went flying. 

“Draco, wait!” Harry called, rising from his desk. “I’m sorry. I just….I miss him.” 

Neither needed to know who Harry was talking about. It was evident. 

Draco paused at the door for a moment before Harry heard a quiet mutter. 

“I do too.”

Draco pushed the door open, the heavy wood almost striking a dark haired witch standing just outside. The woman turned and without asked, pushed her way past Draco and into the room, her black robes, edged with gold, flying with the force of her movements. Draco stumbled back into the room, looking surprised but the woman ignored him, walking straight to Harry. 

“Mr Potter.” She said in a heavy American accent. Harry immediately recognised her. Even without looking at the golden eagle stitched into the breast pocket of her robe. His counterpart from MACUSA.

“Ms Graves.” He replied, nodding towards the witch. He opened his mouth to give a further greeting but was cut off, the woman holding up her hand to silence the Auror. 

“There has been an attack.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late post. I was hoping to update weekly but my internet has been out for 5 days now and I couldn't post on time. 
> 
> I wanted to analyse the end of CC a little with this. As happy as that ending is, I really don't see how years of animosity between Albus and Harry could be resolved in that ending. Harry is in too much of a habit of wanting to one-up everyone in the 'life sucks' department to really change his behaviour overnight, as implied in the play but I think he would certainly become more aware of it and be trying. Also, and this is actually Canon, Harry has a serious temper and he does let it get the better of him. I can fully imagine more then once, Albus has been on the receiving end of it to devastating affect (Not just that scene in CC. You know which one) and it makes sense it still gets the better of Harry in high stress situations. I can fully imagine him loosing his temper at his son and saying and doing things he regrets...again (This is a guy who tried to use the Marauders Map as a spying tool on his son and bullied Hogwarts staff to do what he says. The original Marauders would be ashamed of him for that)
> 
> Also, Cliffhanger!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CHAPTER WARNING! This chapter gets very dark. It features an attack on a school, the mentioned deaths of children and two of the three unforgivable curses used. 
> 
> I mentally battled with myself about going in so much detail about the attack but I feel I need to get into the characters minds on this. Please, anyone who might be triggered, please don't read.

Scorpius loved History. It was a well-known fact. From Wizard to Muggle history, he could not get enough of it. 

As a child, he and his parents had travelled around Europe, soaking up the history wherever they visited. Later on, it was Albus who Scorpius dragged from place to place, his boyfriend laughing and calling him a nerd with good natured teasing as Scorpius geeked out over the littlest things. 

It was only natural then, that Scorpius would chose to get a degree in History. It was the same reason why Albus love of potions had led him to a science degree.

Many years before, Scorpius had imagined himself travelling the world as part of a wizard expedition, uncovering ancient wizarding lore before returning to the Manor to write about his discoveries. Maybe one day even teaching younger wizards the value of history. That dream may have changed slightly, but it hadn’t gone away. Scorpius loved History and he wanted to teach others to love it too. 

Once he gained his degree, Scorpius fully intended to become a teacher, maybe in a muggle school in America, showing young students the joy of discovering the past that he so often felt. He had already taken a few tutoring jobs around the town, helping young students and even his peers who were struggling.

Sitting in his last class for the day, Scorpius happily day dreamed. The lecturer had set them to do their own study for a while and most of his fellow students desks were piled high with books, computers balanced on the side. One of the students was playing music from her computer, the music dissolving into a comfortable noise in the background as everyone worked on their own projects.

Scorpius sat at his own desk, pen in hand. He had been working on a lesson plan for his latest tutoring job, trying to decide how to help his current student learn the dates of the American Civil War. His students often found it funny, learning American history from an Englishman. Scorpius had learnt to use this to his advantage, making the lessons more of a game then a task. The same way he had taught himself about it in his first year in America, before he felt confident enough to start collage (Albus, normally the bolder of the two, had taken over two years of almost constant study to get his knowledge of muggle science up to speed before he had been confident enough to start his own degree)  
Because of his teaching style, he had developed good relationships with many all of his student’s families and was known as a reliable and highly sort after tutor. Something which would never have happened back in the Wizard World, where his very name would have barred him from being able to follow his passion to teach. The superstitious wizards and witches would have turned his passion to help into something sinister, some form of dark wizardry to convert their children into the next generation of Death Eaters. 

Teaching had also helped Scorpius with his confidence. He had always been very aware of his limited confidence in himself. Albus had often denied it, pointing to their 4th year of school as a prime example of Scorpius’ supposed bravery, but Scorpius knew where he was lacking. Years being labelled as ‘Voldemort’s Son’ ‘Death Eater Scum’ and later ‘Grindelwald Returned’ had destroyed any belief Scorpius had in himself. 

As a child he had sometimes allowed the rumours to get to him, sending him into the darker parts of his mind, despite both his father and Albus’ best efforts. Scorpius had hidden it all behind a bright smile and a fake joy but it had always been in the background, the Black Dog of depression. 

Things had slowly gotten better after their 4th year and surviving the time turner fiasco but the constant bullying in the earlier years had done its damage. Damage that, through good friends, acceptance and a supportive boyfriend, was finally starting to mend. 

Something bounced off his head, breaking his train of thought. Turning, Scorpius looked over his shoulder. Sitting behind him was his friend Sam. Meeting his eyes, she gave him a huge smile before ripping a piece of paper out of her book, scrunching it into a ball and throwing it. Scorpius pulled a face as the paper ball hit him softly in the face before hearing Sam giggle. 

Careful not to make too much noise, Sam rose from her seat and walked over to Scorpius’s table, kneeling down by his chair. 

“How’s my favourite Brit?” She asked quietly to not distract the other students, still grinning. Scorpius rolled his eyes playfully, returning the smile. 

“The same as when you asked me before class.” Scorpius replied. “And I know for a fact that I am not your favourite Brit. But I do have this annoying growth that suddenly won’t leave me. I think she’s American.”

Sam punched him lightly in the shoulder, laughing at the good natured joke.

“Ouch.” He said pointedly, rubbing his arm. 

“It didn’t hurt, you git.” The woman replied. She had heard Albus call Scorpius the name a few times and had decided to adopt the British word as her own, looking for any chance to use it.

“You hit me.” Scorpius pouted. Sam gave another small laugh and leant her head against his shoulder for a moment. 

“But seriously, you ok?” She finally asked. “Al said you had a nightmare last night. Was it the attack?”

Scorpius stiffened for a moment before forcing himself to relax. 

It had taken a while for both him and Albus to really open up to their friends, at least as much as they could without revealing the wizarding world to them. 

Cranes attack had been one of the stories they had told, although they had tweaked it a little. Their friends knew there had been an attack which had left Scorpius scared. But they thought it had been a car bombing. None of them knew that Scorpius had been the target of the attack, nor that the attacker had gotten away. 

Albus fall out with his famous father and Scorpius’ mother’s death were other moments in the boys lives which had been revealed, albeit, in a muggle way, to their friends. 

“Just a normal nightmare.” He assured Sam who gave him a small smile. “I guess the homework was getting to me.”

Somewhere outside the building, there was a popping sounds. Scorpius didn’t think much of it. After a slightly shaky start, partly from the trauma of Cranes attack and partly from the surprise at the number of motor vehicles that existed in the Muggle world, he had gotten used to the sounds of the devices. A cars engine backfiring was nothing new. 

He saw Sam glance at the window for a moment before dismiss the noise and turning back to him. She opened her mouth to continue the conversation when there was another bang. Louder this time. Like a gunshot.

Sam frowned in confusion. 

Suddenly, there was a scream from outside the classroom, followed by more bangs. 

Jumping from his seat, Scorpius turned to look at the door. The lecturer was already at the door, peering out into the hallway. 

The screams continued, as well as the banging. Other strange noises filled the air. White faced, the teacher turned towards the class. 

“Everyone under your desks.” He stuttered, clearly fearful before turning off the lights and diving under his own desk. 

Another sound was heard. Not a bang but something different. A sort of whispering sound, as if people were speaking far away. Scorpius blinked. Trying to make out what the voice was saying. After a few seconds, it clicked. He blinked in horror. It was a spell. 

Beside him, Sam grabbed at his arm, trying to pull him to the ground but Scorpius reacted without thinking, pushing her hand away and running to the door. Behind him, he heard someone hiss his name but he ignored it, pushing open the door and running out into the hallway. 

The classroom was on the ground floor of a U shaped building, the hallway overlooking the walled in lawn in the centre where students tended to spend their time between classes. Dropping to his knees, Scorpius allowed the momentum to slide him into the wall under the window. He could hear more screaming. And more voices. He rose up to peek over the window sill. 

A flash of light caused him to duck down again, frantically blinking to get rid of the flash of the spell. After a second, the bright spots faded from his vision and Scorpius tried again. 

On the lawn, it was chaos. Scorpius could see student cramming themselves behind bushes and statues, trying to hide. Other students were lying out in the open, unmoving. And in the middle of the lawn stood four figures. Four figures in black robes and hoods, clutching wands in their hands. There was no guns in sight. The spells seemed to have stopped for a moment and Scorpius saw the figures heads move as if looking around. Suddenly, one turned towards the window where Scorpius was hiding. Scorpius ducked down but not before he saw the figure start to move towards the window. And not before he saw the mask. It was one he had only seen in pictures. A Death Eaters mask. 

Pressing his back against the wall, Scorpius threw his hands over his mouth to prevent the horrified scream from tearing itself out of his throat. He closed his eyes as memories of his dream filled his head, his whole body starting to shake as he prayed desperately to Dumbledore that the Death Eater hadn’t seen him.

After a few seconds, he heard a voice, so close to him, it had to be coming from behind the window. Scorpius didn’t dare raise his head to see what was going on. For a split second, he wished for his wand, for the comfort of holding it but that disappeared when he remembered it was back at the apartment, hidden away. 

“No. Please no!” The voice begged. There was another sound like footsteps drawing near. 

“Where is he?” A deep voice hissed in a low tone. Scorpius was surprised to register the British accent from that deep voice. 

“I don’t know who you are talking about.” The voice begged. “Please, let me go. I don’t know anything.”

There was silence for a moment and all Scorpius could hear was panicky breathing 

“We will find our Lord. With or without your help Muggle.”

There was muffled sobs of fear from behind the wall before the voice whispered. ‘Crucio’.

A bloodcurdling scream filled the air. Scorpius found himself frozen, his mind going back to that day when he was 14 years old, Delphi’s twisted smile as she pointed her wand at him and said those fatal words. Scorpius could almost feel the agony he had felt that day, like a thousand red hot knives driven into his skin over and over, the pain so great he wished for death, Albus’ cry the only thing he could hear over his own screams.

The screams stopped suddenly, Scorpius crawling back from the memory to find himself curled up on the floor, his knees to his chest, his hands over his head as if he could somehow protect himself from the memory. His back was still pressed against the cold wall. On the other side, he could hear whimpers of pain from the poor tortured student.

There was a soft rustle of fabric before the voice whispered.

“Useless Muggle Scum.” Then another, worst spell was cast. 

“Avada Kedavra”

Scorpius immediately closed his eyes but even with his hands covering his face, he couldn’t block out the flash of green light from invading his memories, of Craig’s death when he had accidentally discovered Delphi holding them both captive. 

The silence washed over him again before there was a faint sound of footsteps moving away from the window. Scorpius stayed where he was, curled up on the hard floor, trying not to breath. 

He wasn’t sure how long he stayed there, unable to move, hearing the faint sounds of screams and spells, the noises moving away from where he had hidden. 

After what felt like hours, he heard another sound, a siren drawing near. Footsteps approached. Scorpius curled further in on himself, trying to make himself as small as possible, burying his face in his arms. 

A hand suddenly touched his shoulder, causing him to jump slightly. 

“We got a live one.” A voice shouted before Scorpius felt the hand rest on his arm. “Son, look at me. You are ok. It’s over.”

With great effort, Scorpius looked up into the face of the muggle policeman standing over him. 

“You’re safe now.”

\------

“5 hours ago, a collage was attacked.” Ms Graves stated in her strong American accent, standing over Harry’s desk, her eyes flashing in fury. “A large number of No-Maj students and faculty all dead. MACUSA got word that the attackers were all wielding wooden sticks. My Aurors got to the scenes to assist the No-Maj Police to contain it and imagine their surprise when they got into a fight with a group dressed as your Death Eaters on campus. The bastards all apparated away before my people could bring them in.”

Harry opened his mouth to try and calm the woman but she continued. 

“Then, when I contacted your office to find out what in Mercy Lewis’ name was going on, to my shock, I learnt a group of No-Maj hating Death Eaters escape from your prison over a week ago and you didn’t see fit to warn us!” 

“Gwen, I didn’t….” Harry tried but the female Auror wasn’t done. 

“No! I want to know what in Salem’s name you were thinking! Over a dozen people, dead! The President is up in arms over this and the No Maj government is in a frenzy! They are calling it a School Shooting. You know that will create a panic. ” 

“Which school?” Draco suddenly asked before Harry could say anything. Ms Graves swung around, looking like she was about to breath fire. 

“This is a private conversation.” She spat. 

“And you interrupted our private conversation.” Draco replied in that deadly calm voice of his. “Now, which school was attacked?”

The two glared at each other for a moment, Harry unable to tear his eyes away from the two. It had surprised him that Draco had spoken. But what had surprised him more was the trace of urgency in his voice when he had asked about the school. 

After a moment, Ms Graves named the school. Harry, who was watching Draco, noticed his already pale skin turn white. Without further explanation, Draco turned and ran from the room. Immediately, Harry rose to follow him and find out what had him spooked but Graves blocked him, shoving something against his chest. Harry looked down at the photos she was holding. 

They showed shadowy figures standing in what looked to be school grounds. All of them, dressed as Death Eaters. 

“See what you’ve done.” She spat.

\------

With a groan, Albus allowed himself to sprawl on the bed, enjoying the feel of the blue sheets under his body, even as the grin he had worn since reading Mr Malfoy’s letter remained in place. 

He knew he needed to take a quick nap. His late night the night before had worn him out and he hadn’t managed to get back to sleep after Scorpius nightmare had woken him that morning. He knew that if he wanted to be at his best for his boyfriend’s party, he would need to get some sleep beforehand. And yet, he couldn’t stop the excited buzz he felt. 

Even so, he had tried his best, taking his contacts out, running a brush through his unruly hair and changing into a soft shirt to sleep in (It was one of Scorpius shirts, the Doctor Who logo stamped on the front. Technically, it was too big on Scorpius, his naturally skinny build making it hard for some shirts to fit him. But for Albus, with his slightly stockier build, it fit perfectly.)

It was no use, Albus too wired to even think about closing his eyes. Draco Malfoy, the head of the Malfoy family, had approved Albus’ plan. Albus couldn’t wait to hug the man the moment he turned up, the secret guest for Scorp’s birthday, even if Mr Malfoy was too dignified for hugs (he wasn’t. Albus had seen him hug his son several times before and had even given Albus the occasional hug when he had needed it. They were nothing compared to his mother’s hugs but close enough)

Thinking about Ginny Potter made Albus’ smile fade slightly. He would have to write to her soon to tell her the news. Maybe he could slip it in with Scorpius’ reply to her birthday letter. Albus wished he could see her in person, could hug her again and let her know, face to face, how his life had turned out. How safe he was in the muggle world and how he had made friends. He knew during his childhood that it was Ginny’s greatest wish that Albus make friends, even though Albus’ standoffish personality, his lack of similarity to his father (In personality. Physically, Albus had been told, he was a dead ringer to his famous dad at that age) and his choice of Scorpius as his best mate had hampered him in that aspect of his life. 

But now, he was sure his mother would be proud. Ginny would love Sam, who was so like Lily sometimes that it was almost spooky. And Alice was a complete sweetheart. And she would get a kick out of meeting Tay, Albus was sure. 

But Albus couldn’t see his mother. He knew for a fact the Ministry was still looking for them and contacting his mother would be like showing gold to a Niffler. The Ministry would notice. And Albus feared what would happen if they were found. His father was so certain during their last confrontation that the vial rumour about Scorpius was true. It had happened before, back in their 4th year of school, when Harry Potter had confirmed his believe in that terrible Voldemort rumour. How Harry had been able to say such things about an innocent 14 year old, still confused Albus. Once, in that time when he and his dad were trying to reconnect, Albus had asked why Harry had done it. Why Harry had bullied a child, why he had allowed the rumours to continue and make Scorpius’ live a nightmare. 

Harry had made some comment about feeding the rumours would cause more trouble for Scorpius but Albus was not a fool. He knew that a word from Harry Potter would have been enough for most wizards and witches. But he hadn’t. And Scorpius had paid the price. Almost with his life in the end.

Albus feared losing Scorpius. More than he feared his own death. It was why Delphi had managed to control him for that brief time, when she had dragged them back to the third tri-wizard challenge. If Cedric hadn’t accidentally knocked Delphi away when he stumbled on them, imprisoned in the maze, Albus was sure he would have broken to protect Scorpius. 

Because of that, he couldn’t see his mother. Couldn’t see her warm smile, feel her pride in him, accept her hugs. 

Chewing on his bottom lip, Albus stared up at the ceiling, thinking (Albus was short sighted. His eyesight wasn’t so bad that he couldn’t make out bigger objects. It was mainly the smaller details he missed when he wasn’t wearing his contacts or a pair of glasses Scorpius kept for him for emergencies). As much as he loved his new life (And he truly did. Sure, it had taken a while to get used to Muggle life. Albus had taken a over two years learning everything he needed to survive in this world before he had been comfortable starting collage) There were times he truly missed his old one. Magic had made life easier, although Albus had been amazing to see how Muggles worked around their everyday lives. In some ways, their lives were even easier without magic. 

Motor vehicles were a common sight, unlike in the wizarding world where, with the exception of the Night Bus, they were considered abnormal and to be avoided. Electricity too was amazing, as was television. The internet was a modern marvel. Being able to rely on the news without having to wait for the Daily Prophet to be released was another bonus. And then there were mobile phones. Albus loved that all he had to do was type in select numbers and he could speak to Scorpius in a matter of seconds if he chose, instead of the hours it took by Owls. 

And yet, Albus still missed magic. He had always thought he wasn’t good at it (The Slytherin Squib had been a common taunt thrown at him by his bullies and his brother) but it had been his whole life for so long. Change to the muggle world (And to America) had been daunting. But Albus had Scorpius on this journey with him. Scorpius, who had always been the more cautious of the two, had taken the lead on this, fearlessly diving in to the Muggle World without complaint, wanting to learn everything he could like the huge nerd he was. 

It still made Albus smile to see Scorpius’ joy in learning new things. He had always loved the blond haired wizard for the sheer joy the other took in the littlest things. Older generations of Malfoy’s (Death Eaters and dark wizards, mostly) would roll in their graves if they knew the heir to their name had literally squeaked with excitement the first time he bought a muggle pen. 

Once again, the smile was on Albus’ face as he remembered that moment, shortly after they had arrived in America. Scorpius, still shaky and recovering from the attack had been like a kid in a candy store in that muggle shop. It had been so good to see a smile on Scorpius’ face after all they had gone through. 

A loud siren outside the apartment broke Albus’ train of thought. 

Albus signed. He doubted he would be getting any sleep soon if there were sirens outside. No doubt the police going to a job. 

Rising from the bed, the dark haired wizard frowned as another siren raced past. That was odd. 

They lived in a small collage town and there wasn’t that much crime around.

A third siren had Albus going to the window as a third police vehicle passed in the street. 

The street was eerily quiet for a mid-afternoon. Normally at this time, their neighbours would be returning from work or out in the street to enjoy the afternoon but Albus could not see a single person outside. 

Suddenly, there was knock at the door. Albus jumped before he managed to control himself. 

He turned and walked to the door, peeking through the cracks before opening it. Outside, his elderly neighbour stood, looking pale. 

“Mrs Newman?” Albus asked, opening the door fully. Their elderly neighbour was a lovely lady who both Albus and Scorpius had met shortly after they had moved in. A widow who’s children had long since moved away and had lived in the town most of her life, Mrs Newman had taken a shine to the two young men, calling them her charming British friends and often asking them about growing up in Scotland. She had been the one to show both boys around and introduce them to some of the older residence of the town early in their stay. Both Albus and Scorpius took time out of their days to help the old lady if they saw her out and about.

“Oh thank goodness, Allan dear. I just heard and wanted to make sure you boys are alright?” The little old lady said, looking relieved. 

“Heard what?” Albus asked, looking confused at the woman. 

“The attack. I am praying for those poor dears.” The woman said, looking heartbroken.

“What attack?” Albus asked. Outside, he could hear another siren drive by. 

“The attack on the school.” Mrs Newman replied. “I just wanted to make sure you and Scott are safe. Is he here?”

Albus couldn’t reply, the blood draining from his face. Without another word, he pushed past the old lady and ran, jumping down the stairs and out onto the street. In seconds, he found himself at the Collage gates, his head spinning. Wildly, Albus looked around, trying to figure out what happened as his stomach turned. It seemed, so focused on getting to Scorpius, he had unintentionally apparated to the gate of the collage. A wave of fatigue suddenly washed over him. Apparating was serious magic and Albus had avoided using any form of magic for over four years. The strain of using so much all at once, after such a long period of absence, had left him shaky and confused, his muscles screaming at the sudden strain. Mentally he checked to see if he had splinched in the jump before giving up. He would deal with it later, he had to get to Scorpius. 

Picturing the inside of the main building, Albus tried to will himself to Apparate again, this time inside the line but another wave of fatigue washed over him. He had used too much energy too quickly. It would be a while before he could do so again. 

Quickly, Albus closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths, regaining his composure. He opened his eyes, scanning around to make sure no one had seen him appear. But he didn’t need to worry. 

It was chaos. A line had been set up with police standing guard. Around it, Albus could see parents and students standing. Some were crying, a few screaming but most stood there in silent horror. A few people with cameras, ‘reporters’ Albus’ mind supplied, stood a little way off, watching and waiting for a news worthy moment. Behind the line, Police and Medics ran around, trying to contain the situation. 

Without thinking, Albus moved towards the police line. He had grown up around Aurors and was used to them recognising him as his father’s less interesting son and letting him through. 

A policeman raised his arm, catching Albus before he could cross the line. Albus looked up at the imposing officer. 

“Please. My boyfriend? What happened?” Albus found himself asking, his head spinning as he tried to process what he was seeing.

“Get behind the line Sir.” The cop replied, not moving.

Albus opened his mouth to say something but he froze as he saw a figure moving through the crowd of police. Although his vision was slightly fizzy, from both his fatigue and lack of contacts, he could still make out the figure in a long black leather jacket and hat. The ancient outfit of the American Auror.

Albus had seen American Aurors a few times as a child, when they had visited the MoM to see his dad. But why here? What was going on?

The officer took Albus distraction as his moment to push the young man back towards the line of worried families. Albus didn’t bother fighting him, watching as the Auror ducked under a line of tape and moved out of sight, entering a nearby building. 

“What are they doing here?” Albus thought, a feeling of dread racing down his spine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I have been scowering Pottermore and the Wiki and trying to use established wizard characters in this story but sadly, I don't think JK say much about modern MACUSA so I have had to make up a lot of my own characters. Graves is one of those (Yes, she is connected to FBAWTFT Graves. I will try to explain in later chapters)


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So now we the start of the fallout to the last chapter. And a bit more development of some MACUSA OC's. So this chapter is not as dark. 
> 
> Also, I feel I should warn that while I am trying to update weekly but I am going overseas next week for a month and I can't guarantee that I will be able to keep the posting scheduled. But I am hoping to write a lot more and have it ready to post when I return. (Also to work on a few of my other W.I.P fics because I really don't want to leave them unfinished)

Scorpius couldn’t remember much of what happened after he had been found curled up in the corridor by the police officer. He had faint memories of the officer leading him outside, instructing him not to look around. Of people moving around lumpy white sheets laid out on the grass. Of someone guiding him into another building and being made to sit down in a dark room. 

When he came back to himself, he found that he was seated in a small classroom, a blanket wrapped around him shoulders. The room was crowded but eerily quiet, many others also frozen, seated around the classroom, too shocked to make a sound. 

Several people moved around the stunned group, dispensing aid, murmuring questions and occasionally escorting a survivor out. Because that’s what they were. Survivors. 

A man with a clipboard was moving down a line of people towards Scorpius, talking to each person in the room before writing down their names. Occasionally, he would gesture to one of the assistants still in the room and point to a student who would then be removed from the room. Scorpius couldn’t help but notice, they didn’t come back. 

Scorpius watched him for a while, trying to find something to occupy his mind, to stop him thinking about the horrible things he had witnessed. 

Someone entered the room, looking around before gesturing towards the man with the clipboard, who quickly walked over. 

Scorpius found himself staring at the newcomer. It was a man in a dark leather coat, so long it was almost like a wizards robe. On his head was a black hat. 

Scorpius watched as the two men spoke and the man with the clipboard handed a piece of paper to the other man. The other man looked at it for a moment before opening up his coat slightly, his hand coming to rest on something wooden sticking out of his pocket. Something slim and wand like. 

Scorpius eyes widened and he quickly looked away, not wanting either man to see him staring. There were wizards here. No doubt Aurors come to investigate the Death Eaters. Of course. Scorpius should have realised that MACUSA would get involved. 

And if there were Aurors here, Scorpius was in danger of discovery. 

The wizard world in America was just as much a secret as in England. There was no way the Auror would be letting anyone out who had seen anything, without wiping their memories. Suddenly, the clipboard man’s actions made sense. No doubt, he was choosing who was to be Obliviated and who was to be questioned further. The students were being taken into a room for questioning before their memories were wiped. 

And if they got Scorpius in a room, would they be able to guess he was a wizard? Scorpius was a Malfoy, his distinctive blond hair and grey eyes a dead giveaway. Not to mention his accent. He knew for a fact that he looked just like his father, a man well known in the wizarding communities across Europe. And Draco Malfoy did have some businesses in America. MACUSA could know him or at least be able to recognise him on sight. They would become suspicious meeting an English boy with the same Malfoy eyes and hair in the middle of a magical attack. Oh Merlin!

Scorpius hadn’t kept up to date with the wizarding world back home but he did remember hearing from his father that Harry Potter had been looking for them. And since he was the head Auror, had Mr Potter used his position to alerted Aurors in other countries about them being missing?

If the Auror had a suspicion about who Scorpius really was, it could end in disaster. He needed to get out of the room and away from these people, at least for a few minutes to come up with a plan. 

The man with the clipboard drew closer. 

Ducking his head so the man couldn’t see his eyes, he raised his hand as if in class, trying to gain the attention of his teacher. After a few seconds, Scorpius quietly asked in as meek a voice as he could manage, trying to hide his British accent.

“Excuse me. Can I go to the restroom?” 

The man heard and Scorpius could feel him drawing closer. 

“What was that, son?” The man asked in a gentle voice, resting a hand on Scorpius shoulder. Scorpius couldn’t help but flinch away from the touch, an automatic reaction but it seemed to have the right affect. The man let go, clearly seeing Scorpius’ distress. Scorpius tried to settle his racing heart, hoping the man would mistake his nerves for shock.

“Restroom?” He asked, still not looking at the man. He couldn’t risk it, in case this man was a wizard. 

“I just need to get some more details and call your family, then we can get you all outta here.” The man tried to explain. 

“Please.” Scorpius begged, trying to put a whimper into his voice. He needed to get out of here now!

The man paused for a moment before nodding, Scorpius almost feeling the motion. 

“Ok son. Come with me.”

Rising, Scorpius allowed the man to guide him out of the room. At the door, the man muttered to someone standing at the door. Scorpius didn’t look up, in case it was the Auror. Instead, he pulled the blanket tighter around his shoulders, trying to make himself appear smaller. 

The man led him out to the hallway, the whole place feeling eerie and silent. Scorpius tried not to think about it as he scanned the halls, looking for a convenient way out. He didn’t know if the clipboard man was a wizard or a muggle but he knew he needed to get away. 

But fate must have been working in his favour, the man stopping and pointing down the hall. 

“Last door on the left. I’m sure you already know the way.” He said, indicating to the door before turning back to the room, leaving Scorpius alone. Scorpius blinked, not believing his luck. Quickly, he raced into the bathroom and threw off the blanket, letting it fall to the ground. 

He rushed to the sink and turned the water on, splashing cold water on his face, the shock of it causing him to gasp. Gripping the side of the sink, Scorpius tried to collect himself. He had a few minutes maybe before the man with the clipboard got suspicious. 

Looking around the small white room, Scorpius spied a window. He strode towards it and peeked outside. The bathroom was on the second floor, the rooms clearly chosen so they were away from the lawn where the attack had happened. Outside, Scorpius could see a police line, several officers patrolling it, and behind it, a crown of people watching the building. Families and media waiting to see if their loved ones survived. Even from here, he could hear the screaming of friends and families, learning that their loved ones weren’t coming home.

Briefly, Scorpius thought of Albus. He didn’t have any classes that day and would be home now, hopefully spared the worst of the horror. 

Did Albus know what had happened? Did he know that Scorpius was even alive? The through of his boyfriend, alone and terrified made Scorpius long to see him. But how? 

He thought about climbing out the window, like he had when he was 14 and climbed onto the roof of the Hogwarts Express. But there were a lot of people down there and someone would see him. If the police noticed him, it would cause a scene and he would be caught and probably brought before the Aurors.

Scorpius suddenly felt like smacking himself on the head. After 4 years, he was so used to thinking like a Muggle, he forgot to think like a wizard. A muggle would have no way out but a wizard….

The Aurors may have put an Anti-Disapparition Jinx up but it wasn’t like he had a spare invisibility cloak lying around. And without some form of invisibility cloak, this was the best shot Scorpius had to escape unseen. He would have to risk it.

Rolling his shoulders, Scorpius reached inside himself for the first time in a long time, for his magic. Like his peers at Hogwarts, Scorpius had got his Apparation Licence when he turned 16. He honestly hated that method of transportation, the horrible painful feeling of the jump and the ever present fear of splinching or landing in the wrong place.

Quickly, he thought of a place to jump to. He could go to the apartment but that was a longer jump and would take more out of him. He was out of practice and it was risky to jump so far on a first try. Once he was past the line, he could disappear into the crowd and become invisible. Looking out the window, he spotted a small alleyway behind the majority of the crowd. It was a risk but the crowd was still watching the collage building. There wouldn’t be anyone to see him appear. 

Reaching up, Scorpius carefully pushed open the window a crack, hoping it would ease his way. It was superstition but Scorpius preferred having as few barriers in his way as possible.

Then he closed his eyes, gritted his teeth and disappeared with a soft crack. 

\-----

Hermione Granger was not having a good day. Since the break out from Azkaban, she had been working day and night to contain the situation, to prevent the news from being leaked. But unfortunately, it looked like her work was all for nothing. Someone had spoken to the Prophet and now it seemed every wizard in England was calling for an explanation, for re-assurance that Hermione could not give. 

And not just the wizards in England. 

Hermione had not expected the angry conversation with her counterpart in France, the Italian delegation and the German Chancellor of Magic, all of whom had expressed their anger at not being informed of the breakout. Hermione had managed to plicate most of them, at least she thought she had. But she had not expected the news out of America, nor the angry Howler sent with impressive speed from the Head of Magical Law Enforcement in America which had arrived on her desk that morning and her subsequent talk with the President of MACUSA who was furious. The news she had received in that Howler chilled her to the core. 

So many muggles, slaughtered by wizards dressed as Death Eaters. Hermione was not fool enough to believe it was a co-incidence that only a week after several known Death Eaters escaped prison, this attack had taken place. But it still left her with unanswered questions. If these were the escaped prisoners, and it didn’t take training as an Auror to guess that they were, why attack a muggle collage in America? Why not attack the Ministry instead? Most of the escapees had been members of Lucius Malfoy’s coup years earlier. It frightened Hermione that she didn’t have answers to those questions. 

She knew she had to call an extraordinary meeting, something she had not done in years, since the Time Turner nightmare. She knew that these questions would be asked. And she knew that to not have an answer would not be acceptable. 

The stress was giving her a headache and Hermione could already see that Ethyl, her faithful assistant, was run ragged, fending off the more demanding calls for meetings with the Minister. 

Sighing, Hermione waved away a Patronus sent from the Leader of a Gaelic tribe, requesting a meeting and stood up. She just needed a moment, to get herself together before she fell apart. 

A short walk would do her good. Not outside. Hermione could guess that there were plenty of wizards and witches hanging around outside the Ministry, ready to harass anyone they could. But to the Ministry Café could be good. Stretch her legs and get a quick bite to eat before any more calls came in for her. 

Hermione could already tell she would not be going home tonight, to where Ron no doubt had dinner ready. 

She left her office, quickly passing by Ethyl’s desk with a promise to bring her back a Cauldron Cake and walked down the hall towards the main foyer. Briefly, she thought about ducking into Harry’s office, to see how he was handling everything and maybe see if she could get her friend something to eat.

As she stepped into the main foyer of the Ministry, she froze. A man was standing by one of the statues. Several people scurried past, eyeing the man warily but no one approached and Hermione didn’t blame them. 

The man, far from being offended by the looks he was getting, seemed bored. As Hermione watched, he looked down at his wrist, checking the time on a gold watch. But that wasn’t why Hermione stopped. No, the man was wearing a long black leather jacket and a black bowler hat, the uniform of an American Auror. 

What one of them was doing in the Ministry, Hermione had no idea. She had not been alerted to the use of a Portkey, a standard practice for any government official travelling between countries for work. And yet, this Auror had to be here for a reason. 

Hermione turned towards the long hallway that led to the Aurors branch. She had a feeling Harry could tell her what was going on. She took two steps before her question was answered, a dark haired witch striding out of the long hall, her face like thunder, her black and gold robes flying around her. Hermione immediately recognised her. Guinevere Graves, the Head of Magical Law Enforcement at the Magical Congress of the United States of America. Hermione took a special interest in other women in power and Graves was certainly a powerful witch, both in her position in the American Magical Government and her own talents with magic. On the other side of the hall, the Auror suddenly stood to attention, watching as his boss drew near. 

Harry appeared a few steps behind her, racing to catch up, speaking to Graves in a low voice which Hermione couldn't hear. And running after them, Hermione recognised James Potter, the oldest of Harry’s children trying to back his father up, his wand already in his hands. Hermione didn't need to look at Graves furious expression or Harry's white, panicky face. She could feel the danger in the air.

Harry must have said something to catch the witches attention because suddenly Graves turned, rounding on Harry. 

“I don’t care that you took precautions. People are dead! Innocent No-Maj’s are dead! Your precautions are useless and that is on you Potter. You fucked up! None of your bullshit legacy can excuse that!” She said in a loud voice. Several Ministry employees who had the bad luck to be in the hall, all paused to look at the woman, mouths open in surprise as she dared to shout at Harry Potter, still the idol of the Wizard World. 

James, ever the brave fool, tried to step in, his chest puffed up at the insult to his father. 

“How dare you!” The younger Auror shouted.

Harry reached up and tried to block James but it was too late. Graves rounded on James. 

“How dare I? What do I need to do to get it into your thick head what is going on here?!” The woman shouted, stepping towards James.

“Gwen!” Harry shouted, pushing himself between Graves and James.

Graves glared at him. Then she held up a hand. 

“Enough. I have too much shit to deal with to waste my time on you.” She stated. “Archie?”

The American man ran to her side, pulling out of his leather robe what looked like a small cardboard coffee tray. He held it out to her. 

“Wait! Gwen, we need to work together on this.” Harry yelled, trying to grab at the coffee tray before the woman could touch it. 

“Work together?” Graves laughed. It was not a pleasant laugh. “We shouldn’t be working together. I shouldn’t be working on this at all. This is your mistake. But low and behold, it is now my problem and my people will deal with it.” 

Hermione had heard enough. Quickly, she strode towards the group. 

“Harry?” She asked, walking up to her friend’s side in a subtle display of support. She could feel Grave’s dark eyes fixing on her. “Ms Graves. How nice to see you.” She smiled at the American Auror. 

“Minister Granger.” The woman replied sullenly, her face falling behind a mask of indifference, a trick Hermione herself used when trying to hide her anger. “If you would excuse me, thanks to your escaped Death Eaters, I have a clusterfuck to fix up back home and your Aurors are no help at all.”

“Well that’s not true.” Hermione said mildly. “I believe I just overheard Auror Potter offering his help to you.”

This time, Graves was unable to hide the flash of anger from crossing her face as she glared daggers towards Harry. 

“After all, who better to help then the man who caught those Death Eaters in the first place?” Hermione continued. This time, it was Harry who looked at Hermione, a look of dismay crossing his face as he guessed her meaning. Hermione ignored it. 

“I was speaking to your President just a few short hours ago and offered him the use of all my Aurors to assist in bringing these Death Eaters back to prison. I have no doubts that your people are very well trained and more then capable of bringing them into custody but my people have had previous dealings with them and no doubt, their knowledge would help speed up the process. We would all like to avoid any further attacks. President Quahog is in agreement with me. I guess it’s lucky you arrived so I didn’t have to get a Portkey made to send my people over. It will save a lot of time for all of you to travel together.”

“Hermione. A word.” Harry said in warning as Graves looked taken aback. Hermione was not surprised. President Quahog was a powerful and respected wizard and had been head of MACUSA for many years. If he ordered something, it was very unlikely that Graves would ignore it. 

Hermione nodded and allowed Harry to lead her away from the conflicted American. 

Once they were out of earshot, Harry let go of Hermione’s arm.

“No.” He stated.

“Yes.” Hermione replied. “Harry, you know you have to do this. It’s become clear that the escapees are in America. You need to go there and assist recapturing them.”

“Why?” Harry asked, running a hand through his messy hair. It was still dark but Hermione could see threads of silver amount the dark strands. Harry was getting old. It was a long time since he had been the young, up and coming Auror facing down all manner of dark wizards and even longer since he had been the teen, trained and manipulated to be the savior of the wizarding world.

“Why America? Why attack muggles? This doesn’t make sense. Lucius Malfoy came close to destroying us once before, there is no way this isn’t part of a scheme to bring us down. I need you to go there and figure out what that plan is.” She glanced over at the Americans, who weren’t looking happy. The male Auror had produced a mirror from his jacket and he and Graves were speaking to it, no doubt trying to confirm the Presidents orders. James stood a little way from them both, clearly unsure what to do. His expression was so like Ron's when Ron found himself in a situation he was unprepared for, his reddish-brown hair a mess and his robes askew from running after his father. 

“Plus, I don’t trust President Quahog not to hand them back to us if they do capture them alive. The man is a little too fond of using executions to flex his muscles. I need you to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

Harry’s shoulders slumped in defeat. 

“I had better Owl Ginny.” He muttered, already foreseeing the anger this would cause his wife.

“I’ll send Ron to talk to her.” Hermione offered. “Get him to tell her it was my decision.” 

Harry looked relieved. There were footsteps as Graves strode across to them. 

“If you are coming, you had better hurry up.” She snapped. “The Portkey leaves in two minutes.”

She turned and walked back to her colleague. 

“This is going to be fun.” Harry said sarcastically. 

“Be nice. She is under an incredible amount of stress.” Hermione replied. She truly felt sorry for the other witch. Graves was dealing with a horrible situation and learning that the Ministry had information she did not had to be difficult when lives had been lost. Hermione didn’t like to think of what would have happened if the attack had been American wizards and taken place on British soil, at a muggle university.

“Alright, alright.” Harry muttered before walking back towards the group. Hermione followed him over and watched Graves’ companion again produced the cardboard tray. Harry reached for it. 

“Wait!” James suddenly said. “I’m coming too.”

“James!” Harry almost shouted, taken aback by his son’s outburst. 

“You need extra hands on this. I can help.” James stated, reaching for the tray. “You know I can.”

Harry looked at Hermione who shrugged at him. James was a good Auror, there was no doubting that. But Harry was an overprotective father. It did not escape anyone’s notice that Harry was always putting James on the safest of cases. It was causing some tension between James and the other junior Aurors who were already whispering about favouritism. Hermione knew, from Ron, who got it from Teddy Lupin who was one of James’ friends, that James hated the attention and lack of chances to show his worth to the branch. It was about time, the younger man got the chance to prove himself. 

Realising he was not going to get any help from Hermione, Harry turned towards Graves, no doubt hoping that the woman would reject the idea but the female Auror simply rolled her eyes and took hold of the piece of cardboard. 

Sighing, Harry nodded and James enthusiastically grabbed at the tray. Reluctantly, Harry reached for the tray, his fingertips just touching it as the Portkey activated and transported them all away, leaving Hermione alone in the Great Hall. Sighing, the Minister of Magic turned back towards her office. Those Cauldron Cakes would have to wait.

\------

Scorpius gasped as his back collided with the brick wall, his legs threatening to give out underneath him. Blindly, he looked around, trying to make sense of his surroundings and preying to Dumbledore that he wasn’t about to be grabbed by waiting Aurors. 

He could see the backs of several people, none of them looking in his direction. They were all looking up…at the building Scorpius had just been inside. He had made it. Scorpius almost sank to the ground in relief before he forced himself to focus. He had to get home to Albus. 

Stepping out of the alleyway, Scorpius slowly started to move around the back of the crowd, hoping to look as inconspicuous as possible. 

A head of messy black hair in the crowd caught his eyes. For a second, Scorpius thought he was dreaming, his longing to see his boyfriend causing him to see things. He blinked but the image didn’t change. 

Without thinking, Scorpius pushed through the crowd, trying to make his way to his partner. 

“Albus!” He yelled, forgetting about their muggle names in his desperate need to see the other man. 

Albus turned, looking around wildly, green eyes flashing. He wasn’t wearing his contacts, his emerald eyes visible to the world as he squinted at the crowd, trying to see where the voice had come from.

“Scorp?” Albus asked before his eyes fell on the blond haired man pushing through the crowds towards him. Scorpius immediately threw himself at Albus, Albus catching him in a bone crushing hug. The two remained like that for a moment before Scorpius pulled away, diving in for a desperate kiss. 

“I thought…” Albus said as the kiss broke, the two still clinging to each other. Scorpius could see the tears threatening to fall. He could feel his own eyes stinging in response. “You were dead!” Albus finished. He reached up, placing his hand on Scorpius’ cheek as if to check for himself that Scorpius was really there. Scorpius felt himself lean into the touch, lowering his head until his forehead was resting against Albus’. 

“I’m ok.” He lied. He was not. He didn’t feel like he would ever be ok again. 

Albus seemed to know the lie because he suddenly grabbed Scorpius and held him at arm length, looking him up and down, even as Scorpius knew he had difficulty seeing the details.

“Were you in there when it happened?” He asked, fear seeping into his voice. Scorpius hesitated. It was like the other world all over again, how Scorpius had struggled with telling his friend anything about the horrors he had witnessed for fear of terrifying Albus. 

“Scorpius?” Albus asked again. Closing his eyes, Scorpius nodded. 

“Are you injured?” Albus asked in a tight voice. 

“Please take me home.” Scorpius found himself begging in a small voice, his eyes still closed. He didn't want to be here. He just wanted to be home, where he could feel safe.

Slowly, he felt Albus let go of his shoulders before a hand grabbed his own. Albus free arm reaching around his shoulders so Albus could guide him home. The two turned and left the crowds still gathering at the edge of the police line, beginning their familiar journey back to their apartment. 

Neither of them noticed the shadow turn and follow them through the crowd. 

\------

The Manor was freezing as Draco strode out of the fireplace and into the living room. The newspaper still on the floor where he had dropped it in his hurry to get to the Ministry, Lucius’ photo glaring up at him. Pointedly, Draco stepped on the photo as he moved through the room and out into the hallway, striding up the stairs as fast as his dignity would allow it. Five hours ago, his child’s school had been attacked by Death Eaters led by his father. Draco was not fool enough to think this a co-incidence. He needed to make sure Scorpius and Albus were safe. Owls were too slow and his Portkey was still over an hour away from leaving. He needed the information now. 

The Manor was huge, with a lot of hidden rooms. It had taken Draco most of his childhood to memories the layout of the house and even now, he knew there were unexplored corners. 

Draco paid no mind to that now, his feet taking him in the direction of a small office, hidden in the depths of the building, down the hallway from the door to the locked west wing. The office was an old one. Historically, it had been part of the Staff’s quarters in a time before the Malfoy family had employed House Elves. In more recent times, it had been Scorpius’ occasional play room, the youngest Malfoy using it to store interesting items he found around the Manor and out on their travels and in the darker times, when Astoria’s illness had reached its terrible end, where the younger man had hidden himself away from the world and tried to forget what was happening. 

It made sense that Scorpius’ hidden room now held one of Draco’s most important objects. 

Unlocking the office, Draco stepped into the gloom. Despite the gloom, the room was surprisingly light and airy. Scorpius had hung up his childhood drawings and photos on the walls, and the small desk was littered with writing and books, some for young children and some far more complex, gained as Scorpius had grown up. 

After Scorpius had left with Albus, Draco had occasionally come into this room to remember his child and the life the boy had lived. It had seemed right then, to keep his best form of communication here. 

Walking to the small desk, Draco opened the bottom draw and pulled out the fake bottom. Resting inside was a small metal object. He picked it up. 

If Draco’s ancestors could see him, they would shake their heads in shame as Draco pulled the muggle phone out of the hidden space. In the first year, Draco had tried to keep it with him in case Scorpius needed him quickly but Potter’s determination to find Albus and not incorrect assumption that Draco knew where they were made it a risky move on the older Malfoy’s part. Once Draco was sure the two boys were thriving in the Muggle World, he had finally let the phone go, placing it here in the room where it wouldn’t be found if Potter did try to raid the Manor. Only a few times a year did he return to claim it. Scorpius and Albus’ birthdays, Christmas and All Hallows Eve, events that were important in their lives. 

It had taken a lot of effort for Draco to break his distaste for muggle technology, a habit drilled into him almost brutally by his father, but even he had to admit, the phone was a marvellous piece of technology. 

Turning the device on, Draco quickly checked to make sure the device was working as he had been taught before he reached back into the draw and grabbed a small piece of parchment containing a series of numbers. Finding the one he was looking for, he typed it into the device and raised it to his ear. 

He heard the strange ring for a few moments before a voice answered, whispering into the phone. 

“Hello?” 

“Albus?” Draco asked. The voice was lighter than his son’s, whose voice had deepened considerably as he had grown.

“Mr Malfoy?” Albus asked. “You heard?”

“Scorpius. Is he…?” Draco found himself asking. 

“He’s ok. He’s here…” There was a strange noise, of movement and Draco thought he heard a few muted words over the phone before another voice asked. 

“Dad?” Draco felt as if the weight of the world had fallen from his shoulders on hearing his son’s voice.

“Scorpius. Are you alright? Are you hurt?” Draco asked desperately. 

“Dad, I saw them. The Death Eaters!” Scorpius said. Draco could hear the panic in his voice. “Oh god, they killed people.”

“Scorpius! Are. You. Hurt?” Draco said, trying to put authority in his voice. He needed to know. 

“They were right there…” Scorpius said in a small voice. Draco realised his son was in shock, unable to focus on what his father was saying. 

“Scorpius, listen to me. I am coming to you. I will be there tomorrow. You and Albus need to stay there, block the doors and wait. Do not go outside until I get there. Do you hear me?” Draco said. 

He heard another voice, speaking over Scorpius. 

“We do.”

Draco nodded, forgetting that neither young man could see his action. 

“Take care of him Albus.” Draco instructed. 

“I will.” The younger Potter answered solemnly before the call ended. 

Draco shoved the phone in his pocket and strode to the door. He needed to quickly pack before his Portkey. He would travel all night if he had to, to get to his son. 

He pushed hard at the door, causing it to slam open. There was a sharp squeak as the door struck something moving past. Draco looked around in confusion before spotting the House Elf. He blinked in surprise. All the House Elves knew not to go near the West Wing under Draco’s own orders. 

The male house elf, Bugsey, if Draco’s memory served him correctly, looked up at Draco with guilty eyes. 

“Master Malfoy!” The little creature squeaked in a high pitched voice.

“What are you doing up here, Bugsey?” Draco asked, looking down at the elf. He couldn’t help but notice the elf was favouring his right leg, as if somehow injured. 

The elf dropped its gaze quickly but not before Draco saw it glance towards the locked door to the forbidden Wing. 

“Nothing Master.” Bugsey answered. Draco could hear the guilt in his voice. Draco turned to look at the locked door before looking back at the elf. Since becoming the Master of the Manor, Draco had striven to insure the welfare of his servants. All of them were free elves, paid for their services and allowed to take holidays and wear whatever clothes they desired. He also made sure all were well treated. There were no more kicks or slaps for making a mistake and self-harm was strictly forbidden. To see a House Elf with an injury was troublesome. 

Feeling a sudden chill race down his spin, Draco reached into his robe and pulled out his wand, pointing it at the door. 

“Alohomora!” He said, the tip of his wand flashing. 

For a second, there was nothing before slowly, the door to the forbidden wing opened. Draco looked at it in horror. He had deliberately placed multiple complex charms on that door to ensure it couldn’t be opened, adding more over the years as Scoprius had grown to ensure the curious young wizard wouldn't get into the rooms without permission (Not that Draco hadn't told his son what was behind the locked doors. Scorpius, thankfully, hadn't wanted to go anywhere near the area once he learnt the truth) A simple unlocking charm should not have worked. 

Keeping his wand raised, Draco carefully approached the darkness, listening for any signs of movement, a multitude of protective curses running through his mind. As he entered through the door, the tip of his wand lit up, illuminating the long corridor of the west wing. When Draco had locked down this place, he had made sure the numerous old display cabinets lined up along the hallway had been locked down, despite having already gotten rid of anything dangerous from inside. 

In the dim light of his wand, he could see that the cabinets were no longer locked up. All of them were open, their doors and draws ripped apart with considerable force. 

Glass and wood from the exploded cabinets crunched under Draco’s feet as he carefully ventured further down the hall, eyes scanning the darkness for any signs of life. 

Bugsey followed at his heels, noticeably limping and looking crestfallen. 

A flash of white caught Draco’s eye. Someone had pinned a piece of parchment to the wall. Draco drew near, trying to see in the dim. 

After a few seconds, he realised what he was looking at. Someone had ripped out a page from that vial Rita Skeeter book. But not just any page. It was the one that accused his son. Draco could see the small black and white picture of Scorpius and Albus, along with the larger one of Grindelwald. 

In red ink, someone had circled a part of the text. 

‘Shell we soon see the return of a most fearsome wizard? An old Dark Lord as the New?’

Draco stared at it in horror, suddenly piecing together his father’s horrible plan. 

“Bugsey, what have you done?” He asked quietly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I tried to write Hermione. She was surprisingly difficult to write and I took ages to complete that part. Hopefully I managed to get her tone right as it was in CC, where she had grown up a lot.


	5. Chapter 5

Albus lowered Scorpius’ phone slowly as it disconnected, a sense of relief filling him at the thought of Mr Malfoy coming for them. He would know what to do. 

It hadn’t been until Albus got Scorpius home that the full horror of what had happened had been revealed to him. It hadn’t been some kid with a gun like the news was reporting, Scorpius telling him of the Death Eaters on campus, of the use of the killing curse against innocent students. 

Albus shuddered at the thought, memories of Craig Bowker’s death rushing through his mind. 

Scorpius was sitting on the couch, arms wrapped around his legs, staring into space as outside, the sun set. It was the position he had taken the moment Albus had let go of him once they were home, when Albus had rushed to find his spare glasses so he could look Scorpius over and make sure he wasn’t hurt. Physically, the blond man was fine but mentally…

There had been so much to do once Albus had insured Scorpius was ok. He had quickly checked into their seldom used Muggle Facebook accounts and marked them both ‘Safe’ on the emergency notification. He had also called up all their friends and was relieved to hear everyone was still safe. Amy had taken Sam home and was taking care of her and Tay had left the campus before the attack. 

For obvious reasons, Scorpius Birthday dinner had been cancelled and Albus had refused several offers from people to visit them at their apartment. Until he knew what was going on, he didn’t want anyone but himself around Scorp. 

Then, after he had done all that, he had gone into the bedroom and crawled under their bed, pulling out a long box. Opening it, he had pulled out their two wands. When he had returned, Scorpius roused, taking his own wand and gripping it like a lifeline, his knuckles turning white from the force. It seemed that the wand was the breaking point, Scorpius starting to sob into his arm. Albus had wrapped him up in a hug and rocked him gently, trying to keep up a brave front as he let Scorp get his emotions out.

After a few hours, Scorpius had stopped crying and instead, fallen into this weird trance like state, staring up at the wall, his mind far away. He hadn’t moved when Albus had dragged the blanket off their bed and thrown it over his shoulders, hadn’t even jumped when his phone had rung, Albus de-tangling himself to answer encase it was one of their friends. 

He hadn’t expected Mr Malfoy to be calling. It hadn’t occurred to Albus that news would have spread to England. For a moment as he spoke to Draco, Albus had considered trying to contact his mum, to let her know he was safe. But his mum didn’t know it was his collage that had been attacked and he didn’t want to worry her. Plus, it would take days to get a message out to her. 

Albus felt a sudden wave of homesickness wash over him even as he passed the phone to Scorpius to talk to his dad. 

For a moment as Scorpius spoke in a horsed voice to his father, he longed to see his mum, his brother and sister and yes, even his dad. 

The moment was broken when Albus could feel Scorpius start to tremble, clearly unable to process as he repeated again and again the same phrase. Over the phone, Albus could hear Draco asking with increased tension if Scorpius was ok. 

Taking the phone back, Albus tried to calm the older wizard as best he could, feeling relief when Mr Malfoy said he was going to come to America the next day. It would be good to have him here to help Scorpius. Albus had mentally switched off after that as Mr Malfoy continued to talk, watching Scorpius as he drew his legs up to his chest and buried his face into his arms, trying to regain his composure. 

Once the older wizard had hung up, Albus placed the phone on the stand and looked around. The apartment wasn’t exactly warded. Neither of them had seen the need, perhaps naively, given their reasons for coming to America in the first place, for such safety measures. Someone would need to change that now. Albus was rubbish at wards, potions had always been his better subject, but he had good reason to want them around now, if nothing more than to provide another barrier between them and the world.

Next to him, Scorpius had slowly uncurled from his ball on the couch and had once again fallen into the trance. Albus knew that he needed to get his boyfriends mind off what had happened or Scorp could fall apart. Scorpius was good at putting trauma aside to get things done but once allowed to think, it could come crashing down on top of him. It had happened before, when they were kids, after returning from 1981. Scorpius had been brave through the whole ordeal but once they returned to the present, the breakdown had been inevitable. It had been so bad Scorpius had to stay at St Mungo’s for almost week after the incident, kept in a dreamless sleep for most of the time while healers worked to help him (Albus had to stay overnight but was released back to his family the next morning with only minor scratches and bruises to his wrists where he had been bound) Of course, Scorpius had the added horror of the other reality and the unforgivable curse being cast on him not once, but three times which had made the Healers worried for his mental health.

Thanks to Delphi, he had been the first recorded survivor of an Unforgivable since the end of the 2nd Wizard War, not a record Scorpius deserved to hold, and like all survivors of those hideous curses, Albus’ family included, the risk of unearthed trauma later down the line had increased dramatically. Post Trauma Distress, the Healers had called it at the time. 

Albus had been fearful for his best friend, even as his mum and dad had bundled him up and transported him to the Burrow for a few days to recover with his grandparents before sending him back to school once they were sure it was all over. Although they had exchanged owls when Scorpius was awake and back at Malfoy Manor, Albus had refused to believe his friend was ok until he saw him with his own eyes.

After the few days at St Mungo’s Scorpius had seemingly bounced back to his cheerful self, running to meet him at the gate to Hogwarts when both the Potters and the Malfoys had arrived back at the school, but Albus could see that something in him had changed. It was like Scorpius had been forced to look into a darkness. And maybe brought something back with him. 

Just occasionally, when Albus was sure Scorpius didn’t know he was being watched, it seemed that the blond wizard would stare off into space, slipping into some dark corner of his own mind and for just a moment, Albus swore the world felt darker.

It was like that again. Albus knew that inside, Scorpius was fighting to regain himself, to work through what had happened and try to find a rational way to explain it to himself. 

Albus didn’t know if he would win that fight, if there even was a rational way to explain what had happened but he would do everything he could to help him, even if it was just by being a shoulder to lean on. To prevent that darkness from taking hold

Sliding onto the couch beside his boyfriend and gripping his wand harder, Albus made the promise to himself that no matter what, he would always be there for Scorpius. 

\-----

MASCUA was a lot different from the Ministry, James Potter found as the Portkey dumped him and his father in the grand hallway of the Woolworth Building in New York, the current home of the organisation. 

Looking around with wide eyes, James tried to take in the light, airy look of the main hall, the wide pillars coated in gold. He didn’t need to look to feel the magic in the air.  
Unlike in the Ministry where the appearance of the MACUSA Aurors had been cause for alarm, their arrival seemed to be of little interest to the witches and wizards walking all around him, all of them seemingly in their own worlds. 

There was a rustle of clothing and Albus turned to see Graves strolling away towards a lift. James made to follow her but was quickly blocked by the other Auror. 

“This way.” The man said, pointing in the opposite direction. “The President wants to speak to you.” He was looking at Harry as he said this but James could tell that he was to be dragged along for the ride. 

Harry gave the Auror a small, tense smile. He had been yelled at a lot in the last few hours. The male Aurors gentle tone was probably a relief even though James believed they were probably going to get yelled at some more in a few minutes. 

Following the two men, James tried to take in his surroundings. Despite being well travelled, he had never been to America. Family trips tended to be around Europe and in his job as an Auror, James had yet to leave the safety of the United Kingdom. Even his schooling in Scotland was nothing compared to this. 

Passing a series of golden statues, James felt himself staring. The male Auror seemed to see his looks and shot him a grin. 

“That’s the Salem Memorial.” The Auror said conversationally, clearly trying to lighten the mood a bit.

“Salem?” James asked. James hadn’t paid much attention in History of Magic, only doing enough to get good results to allow for his future career as an Auror. He had heard a few references in his classes over the years but didn’t know much about the incident, except that it was one of the contributing factors to MACUSA’s Rappaport’s Law, banning the Magical Community of America from any contact with Muggles. Of course, the Law had long been abolished and the American witches and wizards, like their British counterparts, were now allowed to interact with muggles as long as they were careful to keep their existence from becoming public knowledge. As far as James was aware, even the American Government was not aware of the Wizard community living alongside them, something to do with a President having to be Obliviated after trying to conscript the Wizard community into a war a few years back. 

“I thought it was only Muggles involved in that incident.” James said conversationally, increasing his pace to match the Auror. He knew a lot of people thought he got his position as a result of his father but James was determined to make sure those around him knew he was not just his fathers son. He would make sure they knew he knew stuff.

Harry didn't seem to notice the conversation his son was holding with the other Auror, or the memorial or the grand halls of MACUSA. He was in a world of his own, no doubt trying to think of what he was going to say to the President as he silently followed the two younger wizards down the hall.

The male Auror winched. 

“Unfortunately not. 4 of ours were involved. Well, 5 if you include a Voodoo Priestess. 3 died.” The Auror replied. 

“Well shit.” James muttered. The Auror made an agreeing noise. 

Realising he didn’t know the male Aurors name, James quickly added. “I’m James. James Potter. That’s my dad and boss Harry.” He nodded towards his father. 

The male Auror gave him a small smile. 

“Archibald Underwood. My friends call me Archie. It’s nice to meet you two. A pity it’s in such terrible circumstances.” 

“So where did your boss go?” James asked as they finally reached the end of the hallway and entered a corridor. 

“To a meeting. She’s got a lot to deal with. I am sure you understand.” Archie replied. James didn't know what to say to that. He hadn't appreciated Graves behaviour towards his dad but it seemed Archie was very protective of his boss and James did not want to start a fight. 

The trio fell into silence as Archie led them through to a large portrait. 

“This is the War Room.” He explained before turning to the portrait of a large Eagle. 

“Twinkies.” He said to the picture. On the canvas, the Eagle reared up, spreading its wings to fill the picture before the secret door opened. 

James raised an eyebrow at the password but didn't say anything as the three entered the large room beyond. 

Inside, an elderly man was standing, looking down at a series of newspapers on his desk, along with a muggle tablet computer. In the corner, James could see a Muggle Television, its screen flickering ever so often to show different news stories. A young man stood by the television, writing down something. James knew of these items because of his Grandfather. 

The man looked up, his warm eyes falling on James and Harry. 

“Ah, the Potters.” He said in a friendly voice, his accent thick as he raised himself to his full height and held his hand out. Behind him, the younger man, maybe an assistant, looked up before turning back to his work, ignoring their arrival. “So sorry for the lack of reception. Graves is a damn good Auror and I wouldn’t have anyone else for my Head of Security but she is not what you would call a people person at the best of times and you must understand she is under a lot of stress right now with everything that happened.”

“President Quahog.” Harry nodded, accepting the mans raised hand. 

“Please, call me Samuel.” The older man smiled. He looked at James. “This your boy?”

“This is my son, James.” Harry replied, clearly taken aback by the lack of shouting. 

“Ah. So not the missing one.” The President replied. “How do you do young man?” He raised his hand again, this time towards James. 

James hesitated to take it. Something about this guy seemed off. James knew about politicians. Hell, his Aunt was the Minister for Magic. But where Hermione was always sincere, this guy seemed off. His casual brush off of James’ brother as if Albus was unimportant did not help James’s feelings towards the man. 

James could tell the man was charming and friendly but he was a trained Auror and James Potter could recognise a snake when he saw one. 

There was a sharp smack on his back before James managed to reach up and grip the man’s hand. The President smiled at him before turning, his face falling. 

“Well, this is a damn shit show you’ve left us in.” He stated, looking at Harry. James saw his dad wince. The President, it seemed, was not one to mess around. “Tell me, how in Proctors name did these monsters get out of your prison? I thought Azkaban was supposed to be the best.”

“We have yet to find that out.” Harry admitted. “But it’s clear that this was a very well thought out plan on their parts.”

The President nodded. 

“Any ideas on why they came here of all places?” He asked. 

Harry shrugged helplessly. He had no ideas what the Death Eaters were planning. 

“It seems to me that it’s a strange move for these felons to come to American. No offence meant but we aren’t as soft on dangerous criminals as you are back in England. You all want to lock em up. We make sure they can never wield a wand again.”

James felt a chill race up his spine. He was very aware that MACUSA still enforced the Death Penalty. Back home, it had been a subject of contention on and off, when people remembered the number of Death Eaters still in Azkaban. 

Some Witches and Wizards still cried out for the worst offenders to be put to death, or if not death, at least receive a Dementors kiss. But the Ministry refused to even consider it.  
This breakout would once again, bring the debate back to the Wizarding community of Britain. 

The President continued on.

“Now, your lovely Minister, Ms Granger assured me that these dark wizards were mostly arrested for an attack on your government some 22 years ago and before that, were serious supporters of your Dark Lord Voldemort. So why not attack your lot? Why attack No-Maj’s?”

James had to remind himself that America hadn’t been directly involved in the 2nd Wizard War. Sure, they had agents working with the Ministry and the Wizarding Governments of Europe but as far as James was aware, there hadn’t been an attack on American soil which could be attributed to Voldemort. 

“It is a mystery to us too.” Harry replied to the Presidents question, seemingly not as disturbed by the Presidents words as James was. 

“Well, you were the one to capture these monsters. I hope your knowledge and power can assist us in re-capturing them before any more disasters causes Gwen to have a heart attack and leave me down a Head of Magical Law Enforcement. Auror Underwood, I am sure Director Graves is eager to begin the investigation. I trust you to escort our two guests down to the bullpen. No doubt Gwen is holding her meetings now and I would hate for you to miss anything.”

The American Auror stood to attention behind James and Harry, nodding agreement. 

“Of course Sir.” He replied. “Director Potter, Auror Potter, please follow me.”

He turned and James couldn’t think of anything to say to stop him as the two British wizards were guided out of the office and back into the hallway.

\------

For the second time in so many hours, Draco found himself striding through the halls of the Ministry of Magic. This time, his destination was not Potters office but a far more dangerous place. 

Reaching the door he needed, he pushed it open, bracing himself for any curses thrown his way. 

At her desk, Hermione looked up in surprise at the intrusion. She had been in the middle of a meeting with the goblins from Gringotts about the current situation. At the small desk to the side of Hermione’s her secretary stood up, gaping.

“Draco?” She asked, surprised by the blond wizards sudden appearance at her door unannounced. Immediately, Ethyl rushed to the door, trying to grab at Draco and push him outside but Draco pushed past her, ignoring her indignant squawk.

“I’m sorry Hermione but I have urgent news that cannot wait.” He said, striding towards the desk, ignoring the glares from the goblins. 

“Draco, I am in the middle of a…” Hermione stated, her voice dangerously low. 

“I know that Lucius is planning.” Draco shot out, talking over her. Ethyl was by his side now, grabbing at his sleeve and trying to drag him out of the meeting. The goblin in front of Hermione gave an indignant snarl. 

Hermione suddenly raised her hand, her eyes fixed on Draco. The room fell silent.

“Everyone out now.” She ordered. She pointed at a chair before her desk. “Draco. Sit.”

The goblin opened his mouth to argue but Hermione silenced him with a look. 

“I will re-schedule later.” She said through gritted teeth. 

The goblin turned up its nose at her but left without a word. 

“Ethyl, you too.” Hermione ordered to her surprised assistant. With many backwards glances, the woman left the room. 

“Now. Speak quickly.” Hermione stated as Draco slowly sat in the chair.

“The attack on the school in America. It wasn’t random. Lucius is going after Scorpius.”

Hermione blinked, unable to comprehend for a few moments, what Draco was saying. Then if finally sunk in. 

“He was at the school? Is he safe?” She asked in a soft voice. 

Draco nodded. 

“All his life, he has been the target of attacks. First the Voldemort rumours and then the Grindelwald ones. For years, my life goal was to protect him from that, to try and give him the childhood any child deserves, to stop him from following the paths I took at his age. Despite the Ministry’s refusal to help.”

Hermione winched at the bitter tone in Draco’s voice, remembering the times over the years where Draco had approached her and others to try and help quash the rumours. It was too late that Hermione realised how damaging her refusal to help truly was. 

“Then the attack happened and I had to face the truth. I had failed to protect my son. There is nowhere in the Wizard World he can be safe anymore.”

“So you sent him to America? And Albus too?” Hermione asked gently. For a moment, she through of Rose and Hugo, of what she would have done, had it been her own children in Scorpius’ place. To her shame, she remembered the early years in her children’s lives. She had always promised to tell her children the truth as she saw it. Unfortunately, the truth was not so kind to the Malfoy’s and Rose had taken her and Ron’s prejudices with her to Hogwarts. Even now, Hermione could remember Ron standing on Platform 9 ¾, pointing out young Scorpius Malfoy to Rose and telling her to beat him, Ron letting his dislike for the father to justify hurting the son. 

“I thought they would both be safe there. Not held back by their names or history.”

“But how does Lucius know where Scorpius is? If we couldn’t find him after searching for 4 years, how could someone in Azkaban, cut off from the wizarding world and guarded by our most committed guards, learn his location?”

“I don’t know. But this afternoon, I returned to the Manor. I saw one of my House Elves going to the West Wing.”

“The West Wing?” Hermione asked gently. She had the feeling that they were skirting around dangerous territory but she needed to know all the details. 

“When Voldemort and his supporters took over the Manor, they took over the West Wing. It housed the bigger ballroom and the better guest quarters. Nothing but the best for the Dark Lord.” Draco said bitterly. 

Hermione nodded, feeling faint. She could remember her time in the Manor, at the mercy of the Death Eaters.

“The moment I took over the Manor, I had the place locked up. No one in or out. I never wanted to set foot in that part of the house again.”

“But your House Elf?” Hermione asked. She still didn’t like the use of House Elves in the Wizard World but even she couldn’t question Draco’s treatment of his elves. He was known to be very careful to insure their wellbeing. 

“He was injured. Wither it was self-inflicted or someone hurt him, I do not know. When I investigated, I discovered that someone has gotten into the West Wing, despite my wards. It was trashed.”

“You went in there alone?” Hermione asked, trying to hide her dismay. She knew just as well as Harry, the danger Draco was in if Lucius was free. 

“It was empty.” Draco said. “But I found this.”

He held out the page from the book. Hermione took it from him and looked at it. She slowly lowered it, swearing under her breath. “Damn Skeeter.” Draco overheard her. He found himself nodding. 

“So Lucius was after Scorpius? Why?” Hermione asked. 

Draco took a deep breath. 

“My father, despite his beliefs, is not a great wizard. He will never stand up to a truly Dark Wizard. He lives to follow those he believes are greater than him.”

“But there is no one to follow.” Hermione said. 

“There is.” Draco said darkly. “Scorpius.”

“Scorpius?” Hermione asked, surprised. “He is an intelligent young man and I believe, fairly powerful but he’s never been dark. I may not have seen him for years but I don’t think he is capable of it.” 

“Neither do I. But Lucius clearly believes differently.”

“The rumour?” Hermione asked, looking down at the paper still in her hand. 

“How proud Lucius would be, if his line birthed a new Dark Lord.” Draco spat bitterly. “And how much better if that Dark Lord already had the history of Grindelwald behind him.” 

“But how? Even if Lucius got to Scorpius, how could he turn him into a Dark Wizards?” Hermione asked. 

“I don’t know. And I don’t want to find out.” Draco replied. 

“We need to tell Harry. He’s in America with MACUSA. He can get the Aurors out looking, now that we know what they are after, but Draco.” She gave the man a stern look. 

“You need to tell me exactly where Scorpius is hiding.”

Draco nodded. 

“And Albus. Is he safe too?” Hermione asked. She needed to know if her nephew was ok. 

“Both are safe. I have a portkey to America leaving in less than an hour. I am bringing them both home.” Draco said. 

“No.” 

“Hermione.” Draco warned. 

“This is our best chance to capture your father and Harry and MACUSA need to know what is going on. You will go to America. But you will go to MACUSA, give this information to the Aurors and work with them. Then you will go to your son.”

“Granger.” Draco growled, rising to his feet. 

Hermione didn’t flinch. She had faced a lot of angry people in her life. 

“Draco, I know you are scared. I am too. But Lucius is out there and he has murdered innocent people. We have a clue of his plan and we need to work with MACUSA to capture him, before more people get hurt. I am sure once MACUSA is made aware, they can protect Scorpius and Albus. But we need to do this right. Think of the safety of your son.”

“You can’t stop me from going to my child Granger.” Draco almost spat at Hermione. Hermione held up her hand. 

“I can cancel your Portkey Draco. And I will if you refuse. But I won’t, if you work with me here. You are a strong wizard and a good man. Go to MACUSA for me, tell them what you know and I promise, I will get you to America in a heartbeat. I will enchant the Portkey myself if needed.”

For a moment, Draco looked like he was about to draw his wand but then he subsided, clearly realising he was facing a losing battle. And he was wasting time. Another minute he spent arguing with Hermione was another minute where his son was out there, being stalked by his grandfather and in danger.

“Fine.” He said grudgingly. 

Hermione nodded, clearly sensing that the danger had passed. 

“Pack what you need and be back here in an hour.” She stated. “I will have your Portkey to MACUSA ready to go.” 

“I would much rather stay here.” Draco said. Clearly, he didn’t trust Hermione to keep her word. 

“I am not trying to cheat you Draco.” Hermione stated. “I need to get a Portkey and you hanging around will not speed things up.” Instead of leaving, Draco sat back down in the chair, shooting Hermione a challenging look. 

“Fine. Suit yourself.” Hermione muttered and called for Ethyl to come back into the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I am travelling overseas in a few days for a month. I doubt I will be able to post while I am away but please know that I will still be writing (what else is there to do on a long plane ride?) so hopefully I will have a few more chapters ready by the time I get home and can return to posting. Please don't think this story is abandoned. Just resting for a bit. 
> 
> Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter. It's all starting to get to a head now.


	6. Chapter 6

MACUSA’s Auror office setup was vastly different from the Ministry’s, Harry thought as he walked into the vast space Auror Underwood called the Bullpen. Where as in the Ministry, the branch was filled with compact offices, this area was open. Desks were lined up in the vast space, creating separate work spaces for each Auror but without the barriers of walled offices. In the corner was a cleared out area, a small kitchen set up inside. Harry could smell the coffee from the entrance. 

A group of Aurors crowded into that kitchen area, talking among themselves. Harry could see Graves in her black and gold robes, standing in the centre of the group, looking grim. She had her hands on her hips and was listening carefully to an Auror dressed in muggle clothing. 

“At last count, that’s 12 dead No-Maj’s. We obliviated 42 witnesses, along with the first police responders. Jennings worked the reporters so they are printing it as a No-Maj incident. Kowalski managed to secure the security cameras and alter them so no one will see anything suspicious when the No-Maj’s review the footage.” The man was saying, pulling at the sleeve of his jacket nervously. 

Graves nodded. 

“Good. Any ideas on where these bastards apparated to?” She asked. 

“Still no leads Director.” Another man dressed in muggle clothes said. He looked nervously at another Auror in a leather coat standing next to him. 

Graves looked at them both. She raised an eyebrow in question, noting their reluctance to meet her gaze. 

“Anything to add? Sanders? Kowalski?” She asked.

The Auror in the leather coat shifted uncomfortably under his bosses gaze. Behind Harry, James gasped. 

“That’s Quintin Kowalski!” He muttered, looking at the Auror dressed in muggle clothing. He was clutching a clipboard to his chest. “He was on the American Quidditch team in 2014. Mum took me, Al and Lily to see it when she was reporting on the world cup. He scored the ninth goal in the Jamaica/US match where the Keeper fell off her broom.”

Harry looked in surprise at his sons comment. James had only been 11 when he had gone with Ginny and his siblings to the World Cup (Harry had been absent due to some big raid. For the life of him, he couldn’t remember now what had happened but he regrated missing out on being with his family at the Cup) and the fact that he remembered the incident and was able to recognise the wizard was impressive. But James had an incredible memory for Quidditch and was looking at the Auror with something like delight. 

“Rumours are he’s a Legilimens.” The younger Potter added. Harry eyed the wizard in question. He was dark haired and with a stocky yet muscular build. 

“Ma’am, there was an issue with the Obliviation.” Kowalski muttered, looking down at his feet, knuckles white on the clipboard.

“Oh?” Graves asked. Her tone was flat. Clearly she was waiting to figure out if it was a good thing or a bad thing. 

“Ma’am, one of the No-Maj students started experiencing some distress when we were processing them. He needed to go to the bathroom and we thought it would be no harm so I took him there. I went back to check on him and bring him back for processing and he was gone.”

“Gone?” Graves asked. 

“I don’t know how. He must have walked right past us but the No-Maj’s said they didn’t see the kid leave.”

“Is he a risk?” Graves asked.

The second Auror, Sanders, shook his head. 

“The cops found him in one of the hallways and brought him in. There was an outside chance he may had heard something, hence we tapped him for Obliviation but he wasn’t on the ground. He is low risk.”

“But still a risk” Graves muttered. “Go through the records. If he’s a student, find him and Obliviate him. I don’t want any bloody rumours leaking on this and No-Maj kids and their social media have become a nightmare in recent years. I don’t want this up on Twit or Facediary or whatever site is popular now. If he isn’t a student…well, just find him and get it done.” 

Both Aurors nodded. 

“Yes Ma’am.” Sanders replied, looking relived at their clear dismissal. 

Graves turned to face the rest of the group of Aurors who all stood to attention, knowing their boss was about to say something important. 

“Alright. You all know the drill. At this point, we have no leads so any of you with contacts in the area, I want them checked out. If anyone knows anything, I want to know it yesterday. I know you are all working on other cases but this takes priority. I want feet on the ground at all times, at least two teams patrolling and a sweep done for magical residue. Post bulletins up in all the communities across the country and I want a check in from our smaller offices, even the Indian reserves. Get our liaisons out there, looking for any information. These bastards need to be caught before they can do any more damage, understood?”

The whole group nodded. 

“Go!” Graves barked. 

There was a flurry of movement as the Aurors split off into pairs, moving with purpose towards different parts of the room, leaving Graves standing by herself. 

Harry approached her with caution, freezing when her dark eyes landed on him. 

“You and I need to talk.” She said before turning and opening a door. She strode through, Harry and James following behind her. Archie had already left, following another Auror into the depths of the department. 

The room the three walked into was a small office. Inside, Harry was relieved to see, was a desk with paperwork scattered across it. He wasn’t the only one who didn’t read his files. 

In the middle of the paperwork, a cat lay in a ball of black fur. It looked up as the group entered, its yellow eyes fixing on Graves who stopped before the desk and pulled her black robes off. Without looking, she threw the robes to the side. 

James was impressed to see the Robes fly across the room to a coat stand in the corner and rest on a hook next to another black leather coat. 

Graves didn’t even look as she strode to the desk, giving the cat a pat as she sat down. She looked again at Harry and James. 

“Firstly, I need to apologise for my behaviour at your Ministry.” She said, holding Harry’s gaze for long enough for it to become unnerving. “It was unprofessional of me to pull you up in front of your Aurors.” She stated. 

James didn’t have to look at Harry to feel his dads surprise at the Directors sudden change. Harry, for his part was gobsmacked until James had the sense to elbow him in the side, reminding him of where he was. 

“That’s alright.” Harry said hurriedly. “I truly deserve it. For my part, I want to apologise for not informing you of the breakout sooner. I don’t know if lives could have been saved but I know that I put you under a lot of stress by making you find out this way.”

It wasn’t a great apology but it seemed to be enough, Graves nodding. 

“So.” She said. She raised a hand and made a odd gesture. Behind Harry and James, two chairs moved. Graves nodded at them, indicating for the men to sit as she lowered her hand to the desk. “In the interest of cooperation between America and Britain, let’s start from the beginning.” She continued. She leant forward, resting her elbows on the desk. “You’ve dealt with this bastards before and know all the information on them. So talk. Who are we dealing with here and what is their plan?”

Harry gave a shrug as he sat down in the provided chair, not at all alarmed at its movement, the display of wandless magic unnerving to James.

“Most are older wizards, survivors of the 2nd Wizard War of Britain. And a few younger ones, easily lead. A few years ago, they tried to stage a coup against the Ministry with the desire to take over Wizard England. We uncovered their plot and they were all arrested and have spent more than 20 years locked up. If they have any aims, it should be to attack the Ministry and attack me. Not go after Muggles in a different country.”

Graves nodded. 

“Unless this is somehow about you.” She replied. 

“What do you mean?” Harry asked.

Graves leant back in her chair, looking thoughtful. 

“Well, you are the one who captured them, correct?” She asked. 

Harry nodded. 

“And you are the saviour of the British wizarding world?” Graves continued. James fought back the urge to correct her. His dad was the saviour of the Wizard world, not just in Britain. But then he remembered, the American’s had no involvement in the 2nd Wizard War. To them, his dad was just another person, a normal man. They didn't care for his struggles as a child and young man, his fight against Voldemort. 

“So I guess the logical question is….Is there something here in America that is precious to you? Something that these monsters think they can use to get at you?”

Harry shook his head, certainty in his voice. 

“There is nothing.” He replied. 

Graves looked at him for a moment, her dark eyes meeting his green ones. 

“For all our sake, I hope that’s true.”

\-----

It was 58 minutes later that Draco followed Hermione out of her office and into the larger corridor. The Minister of Magic clutching a small notebook in her hand (It was the closest small item she could find to turn into the key) 

Hermione had been very busy. Under Draco’s watch, the woman had charmed a Portkey, sent off a very fast Owl to President Quahog and contacted an escort at MACUSA to meet Draco on his arrival (Draco had only just managed to keep his anger in check. It was like those early years after the Battle of Hogwarts, where it seemed his every move had been monitored. He was a grown man. He did not need a chaperone)

Once in the large corridor, Hermione turned to Draco. She held out a piece of folded Parchment to the wizard. 

“Get that to Harry.” She ordered. 

Draco took the parchment and slipped it into his pocket wordlessly. Hermione could clearly see his annoyance. 

She signed before doing something she had never done before. She reached up and pulled Draco into a hug. 

She could feel through his robes that the man was tense, the wait for a portkey doing nothing to alieve the panic at the danger his son was in. Yet Hermione was grateful. Years ago, Draco would never had even given her this chance, would never have agreed to her plan over his own. 

Life had not been fair to Draco. As a child, he had been controlled by his family, pushed into doing things he never wanted to do, to be on the wrong side of a war he never wanted to be part of. He had spent most of his adult life trying to repent for those exact actions and had been forced to witness the fallout of the war rain down on his son. 

Draco had every right to be angry, to be resentful and hostile towards the world that had so damaged him and his child. Yet he was a good man, despite what less forgiving witches and wizards said about him. 

He could have walked out on Hermione when she asked him to wait. He didn’t even have to bring this information to her in the first place. Hermione knew that Draco had an enormous network of people across the world who would be willing to help him for a favour and they wouldn’t necessarily use legal means to do it. But he had come to Hermione. Even as he was angry at her, Draco had trusted Hermione to help him. 

“I swear, I will do everything to get your son home safe.” Hermione found herself promising. 

Draco didn’t relax, even as Hermione released her grip on him but Hermione didn’t let that get to her. Draco’s grey eyes met hers and for a moment, Hermione knew they understood each other. 

Slowly, Hermione passed the Portkey to Draco who took it in both hands. 

“Good luck. Bring them both home.” She found herself saying as the Portkey activated. 

\------

“So we have nothing.” Graves said, throwing down her quill on the desk. The black cat mewed next to her and absentmindedly, she reached up and stroked the creatures head. On the opposite side of the desk, Harry lifted his glasses to rub at his eyes. The hours had passed by, both Aurors managing to slip into a truce of sorts, more intent on working together then trying to assign blame. Harry was barely aware of the time passing as he and Graves discussed battle plans, strategies and tried to figure out what the Death Eaters were planning. 

Occasionally, other Aurors had entered the room, handing files to Graves and giving her more information to work with. Sometimes they would stay for a little while to help before Graves ordered them to other tasks. 

Files had been pulled up from the depths of MACUSAs archives, statements from the muggle witnesses and Aurors on scene had been read and re-read by both. And yet, after so many hours of work, Harry felt no closer to an answer. 

It was now sometime in the early morning, America time and Harry was becoming very aware of the fatigued look on Graves face. He himself had been in her position many times, when the need to complete a mission overwrote all else, when even his health and wellbeing had been set aside to ensure the job got done. Harry could guess that the woman had not slept in a long time and was only standing through her own stubbornness. 

James had already succumbed, falling asleep on the chair in the corner. Harry couldn’t fault him. Even without the time zones messing with his body clock, James was probably suffering from boredom. He didn’t have much interest in the behind the scenes work Graves and Harry were doing. James was all about the action, like Harry had been at that age, when he had been a junior Auror. 

Sighing, Harry picked up his quill again, underlining a few words from the muggle students statement. 

“Looking for our lord.” Harry read aloud. The muggle had overheard a few words from the Death Eaters during the incident but they weren’t making much sense. “Who? Who were they looking for? And why?”

“And more to the point, did they find this Lord?” Graves asked. 

“The collage. Is there anything magical kept on the grounds? Maybe its in reference to some artefact?” Harry guessed, peering at the statement as if it would suddenly give him the answer.

“Director Graves, ma’am?” A voice broke through as the woman was about to answer. Blinking, Harry looked up from the statement. 

One of the Aurors was standing at the doorframe. 

“Yes Claire?” Graves asked, looking up. Harry saw her grab the hem of her shirt, trying to pull it into some form of order. She then reached to tie back her dark hair which she had let loose during the night. 

“What time is it?” Harry found himself asking, trying to regain his baring. 

“It’s 6am in the morning Sir. Ma’am, the President sent me to get you. We have a visitor from the Ministry of Magic.” The Auror said. She didn’t blink at Harry or her dishevelled boss or the mess in the office. 

“Who?” Graves asked, looking surprised at Harry. Harry returned her look. He had no idea who Hermione would send. 

“A Mr Draco Malfoy.” The younger Auror replied. 

“Draco?” Harry asked. “What is he doing here?” He looked at Graves again. She was now much more caught up on the Azkaban escape and knew who Draco now was. 

She gave him a look before turning to Claire. 

“Lead the way.” She sighed, placing the statement down and stepping away from the desk before striding towards the exit. The black cat jumped down off the desk and followed after its master. As she passed the door, Graves reached up and grabbed a long leather coat off its hook, shrugging it over her shoulders. 

Harry turned to follow in the witches footsteps. 

\------

Albus had forgotten to draw the curtains again. The sun shining into his eyes making the young wizard groan as he slowly regained consciousness. The second through he had was that his body still ached from the unplanned apparition the day before and his neck was bent at an awkward angle, where he had slept against the sofa. The third thought he had was that there was something heavy on top of him.

Opening his eyes, it took Albus a few moments to realise what he was, as he looked up from the couch he was sprawled across. Scorpius was asleep next to him, still wrapped in the blue blanket, body half sprawled over Albus’ lap. On the table before them, Albus could see the remains of the tea he had forced on his boyfriend. 

They had talked for hours (Well, Albus had. Scorpius had been quiet for a long time after the phone call before he had finally started to open up) Thankfully, after a while Scorpius had started to be his old self. Not quite as cheerful as normal but still, he was talking and that was enough for now. 

Scorpius was still gripping his wand in his sleep and Albus didn’t think he was going to release it any time soon, awake or not, not that Albus was going to make him. Scorpius being armed was far more preferable then being unarmed. Albus didn’t know what was out there but Death Eaters on their Campus was not good. 

Neither Albus nor Scorpius knew if there were other wizards at their school (they had never bothered to check) but neither were fools. Scorpius had told Albus long ago that the American wizards hadn’t been part of the 2nd Wizard War. Although Voldemort might have had supporters amongst the American Wizard population at the time, it was far too much of a co-incidence for Wizards wearing Death Eaters robes, the signs of Voldemorts supporters, to turn up at an American school so many years after his defeat unless something terrible was going on. 

The fact that the sons of two notable wizards from that War were in the school could not be brushed aside as luck. It just couldn’t be. 

Albus could only conclude that he and Scorpius were the targets of this attack. 

But no, not Scorpius. They were after him, Albus Potter, the son of the boy who lived. It made sense that he was the target. 

Scorpius’ family had been on the side of Voldemort, even if unwillingly. They would probably see him as one of their own and leave him alone. For once, Scorpius’ family name would help him rather than hurt him. 

It had to be Albus they wanted. To hurt Albus could be seen as a way to hurt Harry Potter, to those who did not know or understand their estrangement. Something any dark wizard would want. 

Reaching up, Albus removed the glasses from his face. He had been so tired the night before, he hadn’t realised he was still wearing them in replacement for his contacts. Running a hand across his face, he let out a soft groan as he tried to clear his head of the sleep induced haze. 

There was a buzzing noise. Sliding the glasses back up his nose, Albus looked up at the small table. Next to the empty mug, the phone sat where he had left it after speaking to Mr Malfoy. The screen was lit up. 

Careful to avoid waking Scorpius, Albus reached over and grabbed at the phone. He accepted the call, raising it to his ear. 

“Hello?” He said quietly, trying not to wake Scorp. 

“Al!” A panicky voice said. He recognised it. 

“Alice?” He asked. 

He had Alice had been in contact the night before, giving each other news of their respective partners. Sam had thankfully not seen anything but both girls were evidently fearful after what happened. 

“Al, there is someone in our house.” Alice said in a panicky whisper. 

Albus jolted up, almost dislodging Scorpius. Thankfully the blond haired wizard didn’t wake up. 

“What?” He asked, gripping the phone hard. 

“There’s a man in black in our home. Oh god!” Albus could hear her hyperventilating over the phone. “He’s got Sam.”

“Alice, I am coming over.” Albus stated, slipping out from under Scorpius and raising to his feet. “Don’t do anything. I am coming.”

“Hurry Albus.” Alice said before the line when dead. 

Albus dropped the phone, grabbing at his shoes. For a second, he thought about waking Scorpius but decided against it. If this was the Death Eaters coming after him through Sam and Alice, there was no way Albus was going to put Scorpius in more danger. Scorpius had already been through so much and was safer in the apartment, away from all this. 

Calling the Police also crossed his mind and was quickly dismissed. If this was another Deatheater attack, Muggles wouldn’t stand a chance. They would be walking into a slaughter. No, it had to be Albus alone.

Shoving his wand in his pocket Albus threw on a jacket he had been wearing the previous day before leaning down and placing a quick kiss on Scorpius forehead. 

Then he turned and ran out the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a short chapter. I finally managed to get Wi-Fi and since I have been writing, I thought I would post the next chapter. I know, not much happens. I am trying to get the characters into position for the next big part so please stay with me. Hopefully a certain incident will happen next chapter. 
> 
> Also as part of my travels, I am going to meet Jason Issac next week (He played Lucius Malfoy in the movies. So looking forward to meeting him.)


	7. Chapter 7

The corridor was dark as Scorpius walked down towards the single door at the end, his black school robes floating behind him, the spine of the jacket digging into his back and keeping his shoulders straight. In his hand was clutched the summons to this dark office. 

He reached the door and knocked. Slowly, it opened and he stepped inside into the gloom, a window high up on the wall the only light in the large chamber. 

Taking a few steps inside, Scorpius stopped and waiting as the door closed behind him. 

“Scorpius Malfoy.” A voice whispered from above him. Scorpius looked up as something black glided from the ceiling. Swallowing hard, Scorpius forced himself to look into the black eyes of the woman, her silver and blue hair framing her pale face. 

In front of him, Delphini Riddle smiled as her feet touched the ground, the Augurey herself, tall and proud, radiating power and darkness. 

“Hello little cousin.” She greeted, stepping closer. Her smile was cold as her eyes as she looked him up and down. “My, you have grown.”

Scorpius inclined his head and didn’t speak. If he did, he was scared he was going to scream. 

Walking to stand before him, Delphi raised a hand to touch his face, her eyes burning into his. He was taller than her now, physically stronger and yet, he knew she was the more powerful witch. She could beat him without even trying. 

Delphi stared at him for a long moment before letting go of his face and turning away, her black feathered robes shifting at the movement. 

“So grown up and yet, to them we are still but children.” Delphi continued. There was a strange tone in her voice. For a second, Scorpius couldn’t figure it out but then he realised, it was bitterness. 

She turned again to look at him. 

“I can feel it little cousin, the resentment. Your father is so grand. Your grandfather a legend and look at you. So much more powerful than either of them and yet, you are in their shadows. King of Hogwarts, undisputed ruler of our generation but to them, you are but a baby bird in a gilded cage. They will never let you fly.” 

Scorpius found the words forced out without his consent. 

“What is your point?” He snapped. 

Delphi turned to look at him in surprise for a moment, eyebrow raised before she burst out laughing. 

“You know, this is what I like about you little cousin. Everyone else is all ‘Please Augurey, have mercy.’ ‘Please don’t hurt me Augurey.’ ‘Please stop torturing me, I will do everything you say Augurey.’ But you, you speak you mind, damned the consequences.”

She drew out her wand, the tip glowing threateningly a hairs breath from Scorpius chin. 

“Now, I could be upset at you for not displaying the proper respect. I could Cruciatus you a few times to get you in line.”

She lowered her wand again. 

“But I think you wouldn’t care. Because you and I are the same, aren’t we? We are the children of the new age. And yet, our families will never see us as such.”

She put her wand away. On her shoulders, the feathers seemed to move, rearranging themselves along her back. 

“My father is weakening. As the years go by, he is losing his power, wasting away into nothing. The Americans and their allies keep pushing back against the New Order and he is becoming a liability. Even the Dark Lord himself cannot rule forever, despite his curses and Horcrux’s. And in his old age, he has made mistakes. He has trusted those he should not trust.”

She motioned towards a table in the corner, shrouded in darkness. As her hand moved, the table became illuminated. There were several items on the table. Scorpius could only call them items, all of them twisted and broken. In the dim, Scorpius could see a burnt part of a small book, the shattered chains of what might have been a necklace with a large pendent, two small pieces of metal which, connected together, might have been a ring, a small gold cup, melted and twisted beyond use and an assortment of blue and silver gems in a melted circlet. 

“There is only one left before the Dark Lord is no more. He and all his followers will fall. Even now they are growing weak and fading away into nothing. But us, we are growing more powerful. It is through us that the New Age will shine.”

She gestured towards Scorpius. Against his will, he found himself moving closer to the table and Delphi. He shuddered as she reached up and placed a hand on his shoulder, positioning herself against his back as he stood before the table. He looked down again at the broken Horcrux’s, the symbol of Voldemort’s power. 

“You could be the leader of the next generation. They follow you, the Scorpion King. You have it in you to be the next great wizard, not like Lord Voldemort who only rules Europe but like Grindelwald, ruling the whole wizarding world. Those fools in America and their allies would fall before you. Grindelwald reborn. I want to see it happen, to see the whole world bow down before us. But the older generation, they are scared. They will push us down, keep us caged away for fear of what you and I will become.”

She leant closer, her breath against his face as she whispered in his ear. 

“It will come a moment, not too far away, when you and I will both have to decide what we are going to do. Are we going to live under our families rule? Or are we going to rise up to take our destinies for ourselves?” 

She reached up and gripped his chin, forcing him to look away from the twisted items on the table. Again, he was forced to look into her black eyes. 

“The question is, little cousin, will you and I stand together or apart?”

\------

Scorpius gasped awake, struggling against the blanket wrapped around him, his eyes flying open to look around wildly. 

For a moment, he didn’t recognise his surroundings, struggling to fight against the accidental restraints.

He grunted as his body slipped painfully to the floor before he finally managed to get his arm free. Pulled the blanket away, Scorpius managed to finally wiggle out, gasping for breath. He reached up to his face. 

He could still feel the ghost of Delphi’s hard grip on his chin, her other hand gripping his shoulder hard. 

He shuddered in memory of the dream, the very real dread from the Dream Delphi’s plan. He didn’t know why this was happening now, why these dreams were plaguing him. 

Rubbing his hand along his face, Scorpius sighed before the memories of the day before returned. 

Scorpius shuddered as the memories washed over him, of the Death Eaters on campus. 

Fighting the instinct to curl into a ball and hope that he would be swallowed up, Scorpius looked around, more memories returning. He was in the small living room of the apartment he and Albus shared. He and Albus had stayed out here last night, Scorpius not wanting to move until he felt safe again and Albus not forcing him to leave his little bubble. Instead, Albus had wrapped his arms around Scorpius and not let go. 

Looking down, Scorpius found he was gripping wand. Not his old wand, which had been destroyed by Delphi but his new one, as he still called it. The familiar polished blackwood with jade inlaid in the handle. A far more powerful wand then his old one, as Ollivander had said when Scorpius had gone to him to purchase it. And yet, sadly neglected.

He and Albus had promised to give their wands up when they had left the wizarding world but Scorpius couldn’t deny he felt safer with it in his hands. He doubted Albus would be mad, after what happened.

Albus…

Forcing himself to his feet, Scorpius looked around for his boyfriend. Albus was nowhere in sight. Blinking, Scorpius forced himself into the bedroom, to see if Albus was in there. He wasn’t. 

On the floor of the bedroom was the open box they had kept their wands in. It was empty. Apart from that, nothing in the room was amiss. 

On the bed was a green sweater, Albus’ sweater. Scorpius recognised it because it was Slytherin Green. Scorpius didn’t tend to wear green. He didn’t dislike the colour but always felt more comfortable wearing blues and greys if he could choose. Albus on the other hand, looked fantastic in green, Scorpius always thought. It matched his eyes.

Grabbing the sweater, Scorpius buried his face in the soft wool for a moment before lowering it. It brought him comfort to hold it close.

He looked around.

“Albus?” He called. 

There was no reply. The apartment was silent. 

“Albus?” Scorpius tried again, leaving the bedroom. His eyes fell on the door. It was unlocked. 

They didn’t live in a dangerous neighbourhood but both Albus and Scorpius had a habit of locking the door. Suddenly, Scorpius felt worried. 

Shoving his wand into his pocket as best he could (His clothes were muggle clothes and did not feature a wand pocket) he quickly shoved the sweater over his head. 

He reached to the door and pushed it experimentally. It opened. 

Peeking around the door, he could see the empty hallway. Slowly, he stepped out of the apartment, his grey eyes scanning his surroundings. 

“Al?” he asked. He jumped as the door closed behind him. 

“Scott? Is that you dear?” A voice asked. 

Scorpius turned to see one of the other apartment doors open and Mrs Newman peek out into the hall. She smiled on seeing him and opened the door further. 

“Ah. It is so good to see you are alright, dear.” She said, striding out into the hallway. Without warning, she reached up and gave Scorpius a quick hug before releasing him. “I was so worried when I heard about what happened. And Alan was too. I could tell.”

“Have you seen him?” Scorpius asked, detangling himself from the old woman’s grip. 

“Oh yes dear. He left about twenty minutes ago.” She said, still smiling. Scorpius could see the relief on her face.

“Twenty minutes?!” Scorpius asked, surprised. “To go where?” 

“I don’t know dear. He seemed like he was in a hurry. But I wouldn’t worry. He probably just down to Walgreen.” She said. 

A strange look crossed her face, as if she was studying Scorpius intently. Unnerved, Scorpius turned to look down the hallway where Albus must have gone. 

“I wouldn’t worry.” She said again, more pointedly. “In fact, I would go home, if I were you, Scorpius Malfoy.”

Scorpius turned, wide eyed. 

The woman was gone, her door closed as if it had never opened. A shiver ran down Scorpius’ spin as he reached for his wand, drawing out of the ill fitted pocket. He turned back to his apartment door.

Behind the closed door of his apartment, he heard movement. Someone was inside. It couldn’t be Albus. Scorpius knew in his bones that it had to be someone or something sinister.

For a moment, Scorpius wanted to flee, to run from here but another part of him held him still. 

Albus had always called him brave, even when Scorpius protested the fact. Albus had always been the brave one of the pair but he wasn’t here. Like in the Voldemort reality that was plaguing his nightmares, Scorpius was alone. 

Slowly, as quietly as he could, Scorpius made his way back to the door. He lent forward, pressing his ear against the door. It was silent. 

He reached down to the handle and raised his wand, holding it at the ready. 

Suddenly, the door exploded outwards. Automatically, Scorpius tried to step backwards but his feet felt like they were anchored to the ground. His body on the other hand, started to fall. 

For a few seconds, Scorpius was in free fall before he hit the ground with a painful thud, the back of his head colliding with the hard floor. Scorpius couldn’t stop the shout of surprise and pain as suddenly, his arms were by his side, ropes wrapped tightly around his body.

Coming back to himself, Scorpius tried to angle his wrist to bring his wand up to the ropes, a spell already on his lips. 

Suddenly his wand was pulled from his grip, leaving him helpless as a figure appeared in view, a booted foot coming to rest on his chest. Scorpius looked up into the silver Death Eaters mask on the figure above him, a wand pointed at his throat. 

“Tsk, tsk.” The Death Eater said, free hand lowered to wave a finger disapprovingly in front of Scorpius face. The weight on Scorpius’ chest increased, causing him to groan, the breath being forced out of him. 

“Theodore.” A deep voice said from inside the apartment. “Enough.”

The figure lifted his boot from Scorpius chest, allowing him to breath again. Suddenly, Scorpius felt his body drag along the ground, into the apartment. There were several figures, all dressed as Death Eaters. They moved to surround Scorpius, still bound on the floor. One of them reached up, pushing aside the black hood and removing its mask. Scorpius saw long white hair fall down to frame the face, a face he immediately recognised from his nightmares.

“Hello Grandson.” Lucius Malfoy greeted, smiling. 

\------

Draco was standing with President Quahog as Graves arrived at his office, Harry hot on her heels.

“Well Director, it seems the British are invading.” He said humorously as he spied his Head Auror. Graves did not respond to him, looking past him at Draco. The President seemed to realise his joke had fallen flat. 

“Mr Malfoy.” She greeted in a neutral tone. 

“Director Graves.” He replied. He glanced over her shoulder at Harry. 

“Draco, what is going on?” Harry asked, walking closer to stand by Graves side. 

“I know Lucius’ plan.” Draco stated. Harry blinked. He hadn’t expected that. “And I know where they are going to strike next.” He drew a piece of parchment from his pocket and held it out to Harry. 

Harry took it and opened it, recognising Hermione’s handwriting. Over his shoulder, Graves peered, reading the note. Harry glanced down to read what his friend, boss and sister in law had written but Draco’s next words stopped him in his tracks, his head shooting up to meet Draco’s own horrified look.

“Harry, he is going after our sons.”

Harry froze, his green eyes meeting Draco’s grey ones. Harry knew Draco’s look of horror was mirrored in his own as Draco’s words sank in. 

Graves, who was still reading over Harry shoulder suddenly reached over and snatched the parchment out of his hand. She scanned it quickly, looking faint before lowering the note and looking straight at Draco. 

“We have to move now. I need your sons address.” She turned to the President. “Samuel, I need every available Auror to mobilise now.”

“What danger level are we looking at here Gwen?” The President asked, for the first time since Harry met him, the man was serious, his tone hard and his face set in a grim expression. 

Graves swallowed, looking pale. 

“Grindelwald.” She replied. 

\------

“Alice! Sam!” Albus shouted as he raced towards the door of the small apartment his friends occupied. 

Reaching for his wand, the wizards prepared to spell open the door. He was beaten to it as the door opened, Alice peering out. 

“Alan?” She asked, looking confused. “What’s wrong?”

“Is he gone? Are you ok?” Albus asked desperately, pushing past her and entering the apartment. 

“Who’s gone? What are you talking about?” Alice asked, closing the door and following Albus to the living room. “Al, what are you talking about?”

“The man! The man in black. You called me just 20 minutes ago.” Albus asked desperately. 

“Al, I haven’t called you since last night.” Alice stated. She was starting to look annoyed now. 

“Baby, who is it?” A voice called from the direction of the bedroom. Albus swung around, ready to fight when Sam appeared at the door, rubbing her eyes. 

“Alan.” She greeted, walking to Alice’s side. Alice wrapped an arm around her shoulder in comfort. “Are you ok? Is Scott ok?” She asked. She looked stressed and her eyes were red like she had been crying. 

“Enough!” Albus shouted. “Where is the man?”

Sam looked at him, a hint of fear on her face. 

“What man?” She asked, voice growing tense. 

“The man Alice called me about 20 minutes ago.”

“Alan, I never called you.” Alice insisted, taking Sam’s hand in her own. She turned to Sam. “Go back to bed Babe, I think I know what is happening.”

Reluctantly, Sam turned and left the room. Alice turned to face Albus again. 

“Al, I need you to calm down.” She stated. “There is no man. I didn’t call you. I think you were having a nightmare.”

“I wasn’t.” Albus protested. “You called me. You were scared.”

“Last time I called you, I was scared. Because I thought Scott could have been killed.” She said, grabbing his hand. 

Albus pulled away. 

“I know you called me.” He protested. Alice sighed. 

“Al.” She said. “Look at your phone.”

Albus did. 

“Look at the incoming calls. I can guarantee you, I never called you.”

Albus opened his phone records. There was no call listed. 

“But how?” Albus asked, looking up at Alice. 

“A dream.” Alice reached up and hugged Albus. “It was just a bad dream. You are safe. We are safe and Scott is safe.”

She released him, both her hands on his shoulders. 

“Alan, are you going to be ok.” She asked. 

Wordlessly, Albus nodded. He paused. 

“Albus.” He whispered. 

“What?” Alice asked, looking at him. 

“In the call, you called me Albus. But no one but Scorp would call me that. No one else would know. Unless….” 

There was a moment of silence as Albus tried to figure out that was going on. He couldn’t have been dreaming that call. He couldn’t have. It was too real. He could remember Scorpius asleep in his arms, the familiar warm weight of him, the phones shrill ring from where he had left it. The cold as Albus extracted himself from Scorpius grip. Suddenly he remembered Mr Malfoy, telling them to stay indoors, telling him not to leave Scorpius alone. The fear in Mr Malfoys voice, as if he knew what was coming.

“Alan? What’s going on?” Alice asked. 

“Death Eaters on campus and this call…. They wanted us separated. They wanted us alone.” He fought down the rising panic. “I left him.”

“Alan?” Alice shouted but Albus was already running out the door. 

\------

Harry strode purposefully between Graves and Draco, several MACUSA Aurors following behind. All of them had their wands drawn as they walked to the apparition point. 

Graves had called up all available Aurors, tasking most to go back to the collage and search and her best dualers to come with them to the apartment. No one could say if the Death Eaters had already discovered the address and if they were there or not so everyone was prepared to fight.

Harry found himself gripping tightly to his wand. He needed to get to Albus before Lucius got to him. If Draco’s theory was correct, Lucius would not hesitate to harm or even kill Albus and do worse to Scorpius. 

Once more, their children’s lives were on the line and unlike with the Delphi incident, Harry wouldn’t have to sit and wait for Albus to give him the answers. 

Glancing over at Draco, Harry could guess his old foes thoughts were the same as his, fear for both of their sons turning them once again into allies and equals. 

Sighing, Harry tried to mentally prepare himself. What was he going to say when he saw Albus again? 4 years was a long time to brood on past hurts. Would Albus forgive him for the idiotic things he had said and done. Harry had crossed the line and, in his heart, he knew even if Albus did forgive him, he didn’t deserve it. 

And who was to say Albus hadn’t changed in those 4 years. Albus had been surviving on his own for all that time now. He wouldn’t be the little boy Harry still remembered him as, who used to run up to him when he got home with a cry of ‘Daddy’, his unruly mop of dark hair and bright green eyes so like his fathers, or the angry teenager he had been, trying to forge his own path with the weight of his parent’s legacy on his shoulders. No, he would be a grown man who had made his own decisions, had lived his own life. 

And he had been living as a Muggle. Harry knew that it was a different world in the Muggle World. Would Albus have completely abandoned his heritage? Harry didn’t even know that Albus had been studying. He knew that Albus had chosen to attend a Muggle University, the same one that had been attacked. Most young witches and wizards chose to take on apprenticeship after they graduated from Hogwarts, learning some form of magical trade. Universities were almost unheard of and the few young witches or wizards who did continue to study, generally had to go to Muggle institutions, despite Hermione’s attempts to set up some sort of wizard university early in her career. 

Would Albus have changed much, living and studying among Muggles?

And what of Scorpius? 

It was a marvel that a Malfoy, from a family so dependent on magic, could even contemplate living in the Muggle World, and yet, it looked like Scorpius had. 

And successfully, since neither seemed to have surfaced in the American Wizarding World. The Wizarding community in the United States was not big and it would have been impossible to hide themselves if they had made contact with the American Witches and Wizards. MACUSA kept a tight record on foreign Magic users in their country and two English Wizards would not have escaped unnoticed. 

Almost nervously, Harry found himself tugging at his blue work robes as they arrived at the spot, the Aurors fanning out around them, wands raised and ready to fight. 

Beside Harry, both Draco and Graves shifted their grips on their wands. 

“We apparate in 3.” Graves ordered. “2”

Harry took a deep breath, gripping his wand tighter. 

“1”

The group disappeared in a puff of smoke. 

A few seconds later, they appeared in the middle of the street outside an old building. Harry quickly scanned the surroundings. The street was empty, eerily so. 

“Follow me.” Draco said, already stepping out of the protective circle of Aurors and running towards the building. He pushed his way through the doors, Harry hot on his heels. 

A few of the Aurors followed, the rest turning to fan out and search the area for danger. 

Once inside, Harry followed Draco to a staircase, the two running as fast as they could. 

They were halfway up the stairs when they heard the scream.

\------

“Scorpius!” Albus shouted, making his way into the apartment building and racing up the stairs to the second floor. 

Rushing out of the stairwell and into the hallway, Albus immediately saw the damage. The door to their apartment was smashed open, pieces of wood scattered over the ground. 

“No!” Albus shouted, rushing to the door and into the apartment. 

The curse hit him in the chest, sending him flying backwards and pinning him against the wall, his glasses, which he had forgotten he was wearing, tumbled off his face and cracked on the ground.

“Well, well, well. A Potter. And so very much like your father.” A voice said. 

Albus blinked through his now fuzzy vision. A figure in dark robes was approaching.

“Not the one I wanted but you will do.” The figure continued. 

Albus blinked again at the figure as it drew near. The figures face was bare, showing him as a man, his pale features ravished by time. The man’s eyes flashed with an insane gleam as he approached until he was standing in front of Albus. He could feel the tip of the wand now touching his chest. 

“Scorpius!” Albus gasped, trying to move his hands from where they were pinned to the wall. 

The man laughed. 

“Idiot boy. You thought to take our lord from us.” He hissed. 

“Lord? What?” Albus found himself asking. He had no idea what the man was talking about. 

“Don’t play dumb with me boy. You have been the one stopping our Lord from rising and preventing us from rising with him. It is all because of you. It will be a pleasure to kill you.” 

“I don’t know what you are talking about.” Albus tried again. 

“Of course you do. Dumbledore reborn. But this time, you will not be around to stop us old man.”

The wand flashed as the man made a slashing movement and Albus couldn’t stop the scream as an invisible force cut into his chest. Blood started seeping through his shirt, following the wands path.

The wand withdrew from his chest, the pain receding slightly but the blood still trickled from the cut. 

“Oh, it will be a pleasure to cut you to pieces boy.” The man spat. He raised the wand again.

“Expelliarmus.” A voice cried. The mans wand shot from his hand. The man was suddenly flung away from Albus. 

No longer pinned to the wall, Albus fell forward, hitting the ground with a painful thud. Desperately, he tried to raise to his knees and draw his wand. 

“Albus.” A voice shouted. 

Albus turned, finally managing to get his wand out of his pocket and pointed it shakenly towards the voice. He looked into green eyes and a face so familiar, so like his own. 

“Dad?” He asked, voice quivering, wand still raised as his free hand went to protect his chest and the injury. 

He suddenly felt his wand pushed aside as Harry grabbed him and crushed him to his chest. 

Harry didn’t even notice the hiss of pain from Albus as he brushed against the open cut, too determined to hug his son close. 

In shock, Albus didn’t know how to react to his fathers presence. He looked around wildly, trying to make sense of what had just happened when, over his fathers shoulder, he met the familiar grey eyes of Mr Malfoy. 

Draco was standing over the figure, wand out and holding the man in place even as he looked over at the two Potters. 

“Albus.” Draco asked. “Where is Scorpius?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things are finally in motion in the story. It only took me 7 chapters. 
> 
> In other news, I am finally back from overseas. I had a fantastic trip and a lot of fun and meeting Jason Issac was a highlight. He is a wonderful man, considering how sinister he was in the films. 
> 
> Now to get back to writing this (I may have slight writers block right now so open to suggestions. I have a faint idea of where I am going but not 100% on how to get there)


	8. Chapter 8

James awoke to the unpleasant noise of something crashing to the floor, jerking him from sleep. Immediately, the junior Auror winced, pain shooting up his neck at the sudden movement. 

Sluggishly, he blinked, trying to wake himself up and assess his surroundings. He was still in Director Graves office, curled up uncomfortably on a chair in the corner of the small room. Someone had thrown a dark robe over him as a blanket, which fell to the floor at his sudden movement. 

James didn’t remember much of what had happened before he passed out. He faintly remembered his dad and the bossy director talking in low voices over piles of paperwork and then nothing. 

Movement caught his eye, James turning his head in the direction of the desk. The black cat was sitting on the desk, its yellow eyes staring at him. Below it on the ground, a metal inkwell lay on its side, black ink dripping from it onto the floor. James stared at the cat and then at the mess before he inevitably met the creatures eyes a second time. 

“You did that on purpose.” He accused the animal but resisted the urge to grab it by the scruff. He had gone to a school where the Head Mistress could turn into a cat. He had learnt long ago to be nice to the animals or else he could find himself in detention. He wasn’t sure what would happen now that he was an adult and no longer at school but he wasn’t prepared to risk it. 

The cat gave a yawn, showing large sharp fangs, as if mocking him.

Remembering where he was, James looked around, half expecting to see his dad and Graves still in a heated discussion. But the office was empty. 

Slowly uncurling himself from the chair, James rose to his feet, still looking around. 

He didn’t believe his dad would just leave him alone in an office without good reason. Grabbing the robe, he folded it and draped it over his arm as he walked towards the desk, ignoring the cats soft mew as he looked down at the numerous files spread out on every available surface. His dad wouldn't have left him without leaving some note of where he was going. James just needed to find it.

Voices outside the office caused him to look up. Dropping the robe on the desk which caught the cat to mew in protest and jump to the floor, James turned and walked to the door and opened it, peering out into the larger room. A group of Aurors were standing around, talking excitedly. Quickly, James took stock of his situation. He was in a foreign country with Aurors who didn't know him. However, James had long since learn of the unofficial Aurors code which stated, regardless of cournty, Aurors looked out for each other. One of them was bound to help him find his dad.

Exiting the office, James made his way towards the group. One of them turned towards him and smile. James immediately recognised Auror Underwood.

“James.” Archie greeted. “Did you hear? We nabbed one of those Death Eaters.”

James blinked in surprise. He hadn’t expected that. 

“What?” He asked. 

“Yeah. This morning. A team raided a No-Maj apartment and located one of the bastards and that missing Potter kid.” Archie said, grinning. It was a good days work for the Aurors, catching a dangerous criminal.

There was a moment of awkward silence as James digested the news. Archie suddenly looked surprised and then concerned as he realised who he was speaking to. 

“Oh. Sorry to drop that on you. Yeah, they found your brother.” he added, slightly sheepishly.

“Where is he?” James demanded, rounding on the group. Archie immediately held his hands up in supplication, the other Aurors watching James intently. 

“In the interview room with a Healer from Josiah Jackson Healing Centre. He took a bad curse to the chest and the Director is waiting to speak to him as soon as he’s been given the all clear. You’re brother, by the way. I mean I just assumed, that was who you meant. The Death Eater is in a holding cell.” Archie shrugged. 

James glared at him for a moment. Archie sighed, realising what that look meant. 

“I'll show you. Follow me.” He said, turning from the group, his leather coat flying out behind him. From out of nowhere the black cat appeared, weaving between Archie’s legs as he walked away towards the exit. 

After a few seconds of awkward silence from the remaining Aurors, James hurried to follow him out of the room and into a long corridor. 

The Auror and the cat led him down several corridors, out into the main hall of MACUSA, down several flights of stairs and then through another series of hallways before finally stopping, James only narrowly avoiding stepping on the cat as it stopped behind Archie’s feet. Peering around the older Auror, James spied movement in the corridor. 

In front of them, a man was pacing in front of a large window, speaking into a small compact mirror. It took James a moment to recognise his father. Harry's clothes were askew, his dark hair wilder then James had ever seen it. The older man continued to speak softly into the mirror, voice low enough that James couldn’t hear what he was saying.  
Occasionally, he would stop and take long moments to look up at the window, his attention torn between it and the mirror before he would tear himself away and continue with the pacing and the conversation. After what felt like forever, he stopped in his tracks.

“Ok. Thank you Hermione.” Harry said finally, raising his voice to a more normal level before closing the small mirror. He sighed and raised his glasses to rub at his eyes. James watched silently as his father lowered his hand which was suspiciously wet. Finally, the silence became too much.

“Dad?” James asked, stepping forward as Harry lowered his glasses and turned to peer through the lenses at his oldest child, clearly surprised to see James there. James could see that his father’s eyes were filled with unshed tears. “Is it true? Did you find Al?” he asked quickly. He couldn’t remember the last time he had seen his dad upset and it was starting to worry him. 

Instead of answering, Harry gave James a small smile before turning to look at the window again. Moving to Harry’s side, James followed Harry’s example and peered through the glass. 

There, seated in the interview room with a healer next to him, was his little brother, now all grown up. James found himself staring at the sight, trying to save the image in his memory, the first he had of his baby brother in over 4 years. 

Al’s shirt was off, the healer wiping away blood from a nasty looking cut on his chest. Al’s hair was even more of a mess than James remembered, messier even then Harry’s and he had grown from the lanky teen he had been into a young man. A young man who James would recognise anywhere, despite the 4 year disappearance.

“You found him.” James found himself saying, the smile growing on his face in his joy. He felt Harry’s arm on his shoulder, feeling his dad’s comforting presence as he continued to gaze at his brother, battered and bruised but alive. “Finally. He’s coming home.”

\-----

“Skinny Ginny.” A voice cried from downstairs. In her bedroom, Lily Potter rolled her eyes, recognising the voice of Uncle Ron. 

Sighing, she dropped the plate of dried beetles she had been feeding to her poffle of Pygmy Puffs and flung herself backwards onto her bed. 

Uncle Ron had been at the house just the night before, to tell Lily’s mother that her husband was in America for work. Lily had been present at the dinner table at the time, the awkward silence almost unbearable, despite Uncle Ron’s attempted jokes and banter. 

For the last few months, Lily had been living at home with her parents, ever since she had given up her apprenticeship with her Uncle Charlie and returned, jobless and moneyless, to England. 

It had been an awkward few months, her mother moaning at her to get a job or return to Uncle Charlies apprenticeship, her dad constantly pointing out how, at her age, he had almost completed Auror Training, and her Aunts and Uncles continuing to offer their unwanted advice or jobs. 

If Uncle Ron offered her a job at Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes one more time, Lily was sure she was going to hex him. And then there were the unwanted comparison between her and her cousins. She didn’t care that Rose was following her mother and had a minor position in the Ministry or that Hugo was training as a healer. She could give less of a damn that Victorie was writing her first novel or that Louis was succeeding as a chef in France. She would rather clean out her Puffs cage 100 times then hear about how Fred and Roxy were starting a band (again) or whatever Molly and Dominique were doing these days. 

She didn’t care that her brother James was already renting an apartment with his latest girlfriend or that he was bringing honour to the family name. Lily just wanted to be herself.

Sometimes, Lily found herself fighting back the scream. 

People expected her to be a Potter, to be a great witch because her last name. Not because of anything she could do or say. Her talents were second to her name. And she hated it. 

Sometimes, she wondered if this was how Albus had always felt. Of course, he had had it a lot worse than the rest of them. 

Named after 2 great wizards (according to their dad) Albus had to deal with not just the Potter name, but his physical resemblance to their dad. 

With his dark hair and green eyes, Albus had looked exactly like their dad (Lily had seen the photos to prove it) and because of that, people had expected him to be a copy of their father, to take up the legacy their father had built and continue it. When he didn’t stack up to the image people had in their heads of what Harry Potter should be like, he was immediately punished for it, criticised and looked down on. Albus couldn’t be himself, he was always expected to be a second Harry Potter. 

Lily had to admit, she had always felt sorry for her brother. Although she bore the Potter name, she looked a lot more like her mother with her red hair, pale skin and brown eyes (not that looking like Ginny Potter didn’t have its own set of challenges amoung the diehard quidditch fans. But Ginny was not one of the Golden Trio. Her resemblance was far less of a burden). James too, had looked more like their mother, with the brown eyes. His hair, although as unmanageable as their fathers, was a lighter brown, bordering on the Weasely red. Very few people looked at him and expected him to be another Harry Potter. 

No, that curse was for Albus alone. 

Lily hadn’t been surprised then, with that weight on him, Albus had failed to live up to the enormous legacy of their father. He had never stood a chance. 

Lily knew that there was only one person outside the family who had ever truly seen beyond the Harry Potter label people had attached to Albus. That was Scorpius Malfoy, one of the kindest and most caring people Lily had ever met. 

Lily had always liked Scorpius, even when, in her second year at Hogwarts, her father had started speaking out against the boy and his family, using those disgusting rumours against him. 

Lily had known, even as a young girl, the distrust her parents held for the Malfoy family. But Lily had never seen it in the youngest Malfoy. Instead, Scorpius had been her Slytherin friend, helping her study for her OWLs even when he should have been studying for his NEWTs. It was Scorpius who used to sneak her into the Slytherin Common Room whenever she felt homesick and wanted to see her brother. Who would all but bully Albus when he got mopey about something and would occasionally help her practice for Quidditch, even though they were on opposing teams. Who had been her first crush before she had realised Scorpius’ interest in Albus, after she caught them snogging in a empty corridor of the castle in her fifth year. 

Scorpius who had been attacked and driven from the Wizarding World on the say so of one of mum’s colleagues. 

Scorpius, who was like another brother to her and who’s exile had driven a rift between her and her father. 

Lily had been present that day, when Mr Malfoy had arrived at the house and told Ginny about the fight and the ultimatum Harry had given Albus. How Harry had raged at Albus, uncaring for the fact that Scorpius had been gravely injured and was fighting for his life, how Albus too was tied up in Skeeters stupid rumour. 

Lily had found herself crying when a short while later, her dad had arrived home, kicking off a fight between her parents that Lily would never forget, Ginny screaming at Harry for what he had done to their child, for threatening Albus like that and causing him to flee. Lily had felt her heart break as her father, the man she had trusted all her life, didn’t refute the accusation but confirmed Lily’s worst fear.

She would never forgive her father for driving her brother, or the boy she thought of as family, out of the country. 

It had been a relief to spend the rest of her summer at the Burrow with her grandparents, away from her father. 

Although like her mother, she had eventually returned to the house, it had never been the same. Her father was stained with the darkness that hurt and betrayal caused. He was no longer the man she had admired above all others. He was a flawed individual who had taken her beloved brother from her, had hurt her Slytherin friend. 

Even being back at the family home now was difficult. Albus’ room was still there, the door locked and untouched. Occasionally, Lily had seen her mother unlock the door and go inside, not to clean or take anything away but to stand and think. Her father too would do the same, on All Hallows Eve. Once Lily had even caught him at it, sitting in the dark on Albus bed, holding a small blanket to his chest as he stared into space. 

Lily had backed away and gone to her own room to cry over the brother and friend she had lost. The next day the door had once again been locked and both Harry and Ginny acting like it had never been opened. 

Lily knew her mother was trying but occasionally she still found herself resenting how Ginny had moved on with her life, as if her middle child wasn’t missing and possibly gone forever. How Ginny had the keys to Albus’ room and would not let anyone else in, like it was a privet shrine for only her and Harry, like they were the only ones grieving for their lost family member. 

If Lily could choose, she would have rather stay anywhere but at the home, with a father she didn’t trust and a mother who seemed to not care for her daughter’s pain. But Lily didn’t have a job. And she would not stoop to a pity job offered by her family. 

Lily would find her place. And it wouldn’t be as a copy of the grandmother who she had been named for, who died taking on the Dark Lord to save her father, nor as the daughter of Harry Potter, the boy who lived. No, she would be Lily Luna Potter, the one and only. And she would do it on her own. 

“Lily.” Her mother shouted from downstairs, distracting her from her thoughts. 

Sighing, Lily rose from the bed. She knew that she would have to make an appearance downstairs of her mother would be upset. Lily didn’t feel like fighting with Ginny right now. Besides, she had left the Mealworms for her branch of Bowtucks downstairs. 

“Here’s the grumpy-bum.” Uncle Ron said, watching from his seat at the kitchen table as Lily made her way downstairs. “How are you Kiddo?” 

Lily tried to ignore Uncle Ron, making a beeline to the cupboard where she kept her animal supplies. 

“Same as yesterday, I see.” Uncle Ron observed, looking across the table at Ginny with meaning. No doubt the two had been discussing her before Lily had made her way downstairs. 

Lily had to take a deep breath as she opened the wooden panel with more force then she meant, sticking her arm inside the cupboard to rummage around for the mealworms. 

There was a soft woosh from the fireplace.

Surprised, Lily looked up as both her mother and her uncle rose from their seats. 

“Hermione?” Ginny asked, trying to flatten out her skirt as the Minister for Magic entered the kitchen. 

“What’s going on love?” Ron asked, moving to greet his wife but Hermione pushed him away. 

“They found him. Ginny, they found Albus.” She stated to the stunned kitchen. 

\-----

The dank basement reeked, the stone floor damp, soaking the bottom of the wizards robes worn by the occupants of the room. Lucius Malfoy ignored this as he paced across the confined space. In one corner, his underlings worked, messing with the large stone basin in preparation for this day’s work. As Lucius looked on, Rabastan Lestrange drew a few bottles of misty silver fog closer to the basin before peering into it once more as several candles flickered, stolen wand moving in complex patterns. No one paid any attention to the empty space by the basin. 

They were down one man, Theodore Nott having not returned from his task to destroy the evidence of their appearance. Lucius was not too worried. Nott was a poor excuse for a Death Eater and like a rotten limb, should be amputated as soon as possible. And even if Lucius wanted him gone, no doubt the snake would come crawling back soon enough. 

Although his skills with creating cursed objects was admirable, there was little need for such skills now. Now that they had all the pieces. 

Turning to begin a new lap of the small space, Lucius’ eyes fell on the young figure sitting quietly in the corner. His grandson Scorpius.

The man, little more then a boy, was still bound tightly, not that it was needed. The milky blue glow of his eyes showing the deep trance Lucius had placed him in as soon as the boy had started to fight back against his destiny, not comprehending what fate had in store. 

He was everything Lucius had imagined from the moment the plan had begun to form, when that fool Crane had been brought into Azkaban, raving like a lunatic. 

Crane had tried to stop fate. But it seemed, instead he had given it a helping hand, the mans raving of a new prophecy spreading through the prison once the man had been secreted away in Azkaban, whispered down the dark corridors until they had reached Lucius’ cell. 

Lucius couldn’t help but stare at this grandson he had never met. The boy was young, powerful, and a spirited fighter. Even now, Lucius could see the boy’s body twitch slightly as he fought against the Imperius curse keeping him under control, so close to breaking free. But Lucius would not let him, not until the time was right.

The boy was a true Malfoy, carrying the same white hair, grey eyes and pointed chin of his ancestors. A throwback to his father, his grandfather and countless Malfoys before him. It was good to see that Draco’s unworthy wife had not tainted the boy too badly. 

Lucius had very little opinion of the girl Astoria, even as a pure blood witch from a decent family. Even less of Draco for marrying her. When he had wanted to restore the family to their rightful place, it was clearly Astoria who had pulled Draco back from following his destiny. Clearly Astoria who had sunk her claws into the last Malfoy, leading to Draco’s betrayal of his whole family. 

Draco, the son and heir Lucius had raised to be the pride of his family, torn down and destroyed by that girl before Lucius very eyes. 

If it hadn’t been for the girl carrying his grandson at the time, Lucius would have gotten rid of her when he had the chance. 

But the girl had not stopped fate. In fact, her hand would play an important part in history now, through the boy Scorpius. 

And what a grand part it was. Even though he had hidden in the Muggle World, the boy was powerful. Lucius could feel it the moment he had laid eyes on the stunned boy in that small flat. All repressed power, hidden away until the time was right. Although Lucius didn’t approve of hiding among muggles, clearly the boy had been smart, keeping away from any wizards who would attempt to stop his destiny until the time was right. 

He could have chosen a better companion to hide with. Lucius cringed at the choice of a Potter as a companion for his grandson. The boy a mixture of Potter and that treacherous Weasely blood. But then again, maybe it hadn’t been such a stupid idea after all. If Scorpius could command the loyalty of a Potter, then there was little the Ministry could do to stop him. The older Potter (Lucius mentally spat the name) was weak and wouldn’t dare take on his son if the boy stood at Scorpius side. In fact, he could hinder his beloved Mudblood Granger. Not that Granger was a threat. Scorpius was powerful and once they returned Grindelwald, he would be more powerful still. A true leader of Wizarding kind unlike the Ministry. True wizards would fall over themselves to join the cause. 

All the Mudbloods and betrayers would be wiped from the world and the Pure Wizards would take their places above the muggles and scum. 

Maybe Draco would return to the fold after all. The boy had some strange ideas, something Lucius had never managed to stamp out of him, despite his efforts, but Lucius had heard enough to know that the boy would more then likely come running back when his son was involved. And Lucius would welcome him into the fold, after some reprimands, of course. The boy wouldn’t escape punishment once he was back under his father’s hand. Lucius would make sure the boy knew his place. 

It would be glorious to see the honour of the Malfoy family returned, three generations standing together as one. The Dark Lord returned to his rightful place. 

Stepping forward to kneel down beside the bound figure, careless of the damp and dirt on the floor, Lucius reached down, running his fingers along Scorpius cheek. Unlike before he was placed in the trance, thos time the boy didn’t flinch at Lucius touch. 

Applying a small amount of pressure, Lucius pushed Scorpius head to the side. In the dim candle light, he could see the scars peaking up above the collar of the boys green jumper. A reminder of those pathetic scum and their miserable attempt to stop the future. An attempt that had failed. 

Lucius would not let them get a second chance. No, the plan was almost ready now. 

Soon, their Lord would rise. 

Raising to his feel, Lucius turned away from the boy and back towards his underlings to complete his work. Because of that, he didn’t hear the faint buzzing or notice the soft glow coming from Scorpius pocket. 

\------

“Mr Potter.” A voice said as Albus grabbed at his shirt and tried to ignore the wave of nausea as the Death Eaters curse slowly faded. 

The healer had left after asking several uncomfortable questions, leaving Albus trapped alone in this room. 

Pulling the shirt over his head to try and hide his face and buy himself a few seconds (Scorpius shirt. He hadn’t changed it since the previous day and now, to his dismay, there was a large rip in it where the Death Eaters curse had cut through the material) Albus tried to think of a way to escape the room and this building. 

His father was here, somewhere in the building. Albus had lost sight of him when he had been transported here and marched into this room by a group of faceless Aurors and his wand confiscated, and Albus was not keen on hanging around to see any more of him. 

He needed a way out. He needed to find Scorpius. They were both in so much danger. For all Albus knew, they already had Scorpius locked up somewhere, accused of some crime he didn't commit and ready to lock him up forever, away from Albus. Albus didn't have much time. He needed to escape now. 

The door clicked shut as Albus finally pulled the shirt on and squinted at the speaker. His glasses had not been recovered and no one had let him get his contacts in the chaos so he was left trying to see as best he could without them.

It was a middle aged witch with dark hair and eyes, holding a manila folder. She was dressed like an Auror, the feeling of power surrounding her and Albus thought he could see the faint outline of her wand in her pocket. Too far for him to try and grab.

The witch gave him a friendly smile as she walked towards the table in the middle of the room where Albus’ shirt had been placed when the Healer was looking him over. She placed the folder down and opened it, leaving Albus to again squint to try and make out the insides with his less then perfect eyesight. 

“My name is Gwen. If you don’t mind, I have a few questions for you.” She said. Behind her, Albus could hear the sound of the door locking with a second, deafening click, blocking any escape. He was too late.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So another filler chapter. I have had serious writers block with this story (I know what I want to happen but I haven't yet figured out how to get there) so this is just a nothing chapter to try and beat the writers block. I also wanted to experiment with writing more of James, attempting Lily and Lucius and of course, seeing how Albus is doing. Poor Scorpius doesn't really have much to say at this point. 
> 
> I also wanted to show more details to to fallout of Harry's initial fight with Albus and how that affected his family, particularly his growing daughter. Because this sort of stuff would affect her and she would have only been 15 at the time. A rebellious age already, not to mention her perception of her father changing. Lily is hard to write because she only had a few lines in CC and I never really got a handle of her character. So I went with disillusioned teen/young adult for her. 
> 
> Lucius is just a nutjob. Enough said there. 
> 
> I have some more ideas and in the next chapter, I am hoping Draco will be back (if he plays ball) and hold on because Grindelwald is coming. Maybe next chapter, maybe not, but soon.
> 
> Also, that marks 70 pages written on Microsoft Word. Not my longest fic ever but I still feel this is a decent effort so far. And if I manage to finish this, it will probably become my longest fic. Still have a way to go.

**Author's Note:**

> So that's the first part. I think I managed to get their personalities down-pat but please let me know if they seem OOC. 
> 
> I spent hours on Pottermore and the Harry Potter Wiki for research for this but I know I only scratched the surface and missed a whole heap. I don't think I have ever researched a fandom so much for a fic before.


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